Darkseid of the Moon
by Tactician404
Summary: A few months ago, Thanos wiped out half the population of the anime universe. Now, he pays for it.
1. Some Damn Good Cheese

**Hello reader, for those of you who are wondering why I decided to restart this entire fanfiction from scratch after I had gotten about sixteen chapters in and had already planned everything out. Well, reason being, honestly, because during the planning and the writing out of the previous fanfiction I was going through numerous personal roadblocks. I had encountered some stresses, some obstacles and some depressors and it inadvertently showed in my writing to the point where I pretty much gave up and half-assed some… most of the chapters. Thanks to the isolation though, one of the only good things to come out of it, I finally got some time to relax and do some introspection. Hopefully, I've gotten most of my shit together and can churn out some quality material. This is me going back to square one and trying to build 'Darkseid of the Moon' back up from its foundation, so I hope you enjoy it. Constructive criticism will be welcomed.**

**.**

There is a near infinite number of universes that make up the known multiverse. Universes both large and minute. Massive universes, enough to swallow other universes whole, and tiny universes, too miniscule to be seen from the edge of the multiverse. Some universes house beings powerful enough to shred other universes apart with a mere snap of a finger, others house galaxies filled to the brim with harmless and meek entities. For eons, veils have separated the universes, disallowing universally powerful beings from interacting and conquering their feebler companions. For eons, until a red-eyed demon came along and turned the very fabric of existence on its head.

"Desaad, bring me the Stones," an eight-foot-tall behemoth lifted his heavy body off his throne to saunter into the midnight black of space. He raised his hand to a glass window that separated him from the eternal abyss. The dark-blue-helmeted God exhaled softly before placing his hands behind his back.

"Here you go, Master," a hideous robed henchman bowed before lifting a small red pillow with seven radiating Gems, "But if I may ask, Master Darkseid, why have you waited almost seven months to finally use them?" the red-eyed deity glared at his servant, who stared at the metallic flooring in fear, to avoid eye contact.

"Tell me, Desaad, would you have used the Cypher of Anti-Life the day Thanos brought it to us?" the wrinkly pale man lifted his head slightly to think. As he thought, Darkseid loaded his Stones, not into his fist but into his chest. He placed the Power Stone nearest to his neck, just under his collar. A surge of purple energy ran through his body. The Space Stone was next, to the right of the Power Stone, followed by the Reality Gem directly underneath it. He paused to allow the scarlet energy to settle, "Well?"

"Well, I would have, yes, to stop the universes from learning of our ambitions, and to strike while one of the universes was at its lowest point, Master Darkseid sir."

The eight-foot brute chuckled at the comment, "Well, Desaad, that's why I'm the God and you're my worshipper," he remained silent whilst loading in the Soul Stone directly under the Power Stone. Continuing clockwise, he formed a ring with the Time Stone and finally the Mind Stone. He grabbed the Dimensional Stone between his thumb, index and middle fingers. The energy of the other six Gems yanked the rainbow-coloured Stone out of his hand, completing the set as it nestled in the centre of his chest. Darkseid roared with power. The bellow shook the ship to its core.

"What do you mean, Master?"

Darkseid returned to his seat to grab the final piece of his puzzle, "You see, Desaad, the universes are far apart but interlocked in such a way that if something substantial happens in one universe, at least the most powerful of the other universes will hear about it. After almost seven months, word has spread to the other universes of what the Marvel and DC Universe have done. Their sparkling heroes are no more, now they see murderers where men once stood. The Anti-Life's greatest weakness is hope. Hope is not much unlike a burger patty. If you rush it, no matter the heat, there will always be some parts of it left raw, but if you let it simmer, let it burn in its own juices. If you let the Superman believe he was responsible for the deaths of billions, if you let the Avengers believe that they orchestrated said deaths, if you let an entire universe bask in the fact that half of it is no more, then the victory is as tasty as it could ever be," Darkseid clenched his left fist to reveal linings of code written in an ancient language, created long before his own existence.

"Beautiful, Master, absolutely beautiful. Aren't you afraid the gods of the other universes will retaliate when your plan begins?"

"Let them come."

"Galactus?"

"He already knows, he fears me now."

"Your own son, Orion?"

"I've defeated him without the Infinity Stones and Equation to Anti-Life."

"What about beings who might still be beyond your powers, the Living Tribunal, Lucifer Morningstar, Death Herself, Arceus-?"

"Will have to pick apart their worlds from the ashes of what remains," Darkseid returned to the window reflecting eternity, "The end will be quick, by the time they realise they're under the Anti-Life, it'll be too late."

"Of course, Master Darkseid, how could I ever doubt your power and wisdom?"

"You are simply being mortal, Desaad," the throne levitated across the room. The dark-blue New God lowered himself onto it and gazed into nothingness, "For now, forget your mortality and watch the worlds burn in front of your very eyes," all seven Stones brightened the room as Darkseid's eyes flared. A wave of energy reached out into the farthest corners of the multiverse.

Desaad removed his hood to experience this moment without filter. He rose from his knees to approach the glass and lean against it. His eyes widened, "Master Darkseid…" was all he could muster as the veil between universes collapsed, ripping open rifts that tossed universes into each other. A crescendo of multiversal madness. Every universe, every world, every creature, no longer stacked on a multiversal scale, instead stuffed into the same plane of existence. It was madness.

"Before I can engage the Anti-Life Equation, I need to do one last thing," Darkseid slouched on his throne, almost ignoring the breakdown in space and time happening in front of him, "As I mentioned before, the Code's greatest weakness is hope. So, before I engage No-Life, I need to eliminate the symbols of hope amongst the universes. Naruto, Sasuke, Goku, Superman, the Batman, Iron Man, Captain America, Thanos-."

"Master, that all sounds well and good, but such feats are easier said than done."

"I thought I taught you not to undermine me, Desaad. I shall simply retrieve some trained professionals from the afterlife, imbue them with my godly powers, and then send them into the universes to eliminate the threats."

"Bringing people to life, won't that upset Death?"

"Lady Death has no hope, she'll be easy pickings."

"Which professionals did you have in mind, Master Darkseid?"

"Sit back and see for yourself."

**.**

**Darkseid of the Moon**

**CHAPTER 1**

**Some Damn Good Cheese**

**.**

A massive orange-red kitsune single-handedly lifted a large readymade roof off the ground as wood grew from the earth to form a double-storey house. The fox carefully placed the roof on top of the home as Yamato finished creating it. The mighty Bijuu glared at his Jinchuuriki for a hot second before returning to the building. Construction workers pulled ladders out to reach the roofing. Slowly, they sunk nails into the work to finish it off.

"**The Nine-Tailed Fox, strongest creature in the entire world, can level an entire mountain with a swing of its tail and launch chakra balls powerful enough to wipe out civilisations, but is being used for construction work. I hope you're happy with yourself."**

The twenty-year-old elite shinobi folded his arms before flashing his foxy grin at the immortal entity, "I'm absolutely delighted, dattebayo!" the giant beast growled, releasing a burst of steam as it lowered itself onto four legs, "Plus, what do you want? There's been no major threat to the world since… Thanos."

"**I'd rather have another Thanos than continue building houses."**

"Be careful what you wish for," Naruto warned, "Should I remind you, the reason we're rebuilding everything is because he dropped a planet on the village. Another Thanos might just mean more construction work for you, dattebayo."

"**Speaking of, you caused this mess, so why aren't you doing any work?"**

"I didn't cause anything, dattebayo!" the blonde took a deep breath in, "And I _am_ helping, I'm helping run the village, Kakashi isn't really in the right state to run a village on his own at the moment, so I'm-."

"**And you are?"**

"What are you talking about?"

Kurama stared at his jailor momentarily**, "Nothing, runt,"** he picked up one more readymade roof and placed it on another roofless house that Yamato had created. More construction workers rushed to the building, leaned their ladders against it and climbed to its summit to hammer in the nails that would secure the roof to its walls. **"That's enough for one day. I'm going to sleep!"** without another word, the towering fox looming over the village exploded in a puff of smoke. Naruto felt the angry canine re-enter his body via his seal.

"You can't just disappear like that, you stupid fox!" Naruto yelled.

"It's okay, Naruto, he did enough work for one day. I was thinking of covering the houses up for the night anyway, in case it rains," Yamato commented removing a splinter from his thumb, "You can take a break too, I'll come pick you up tomorrow when we restart. We're almost done after all."

The blonde gave his teacher a nod before walking off down the cobblestone road. Before he could even reach the intersection, Shikamaru approached him with hands behind his head. Naruto paused.

"Oi Naruto! Is this the real you?" the pineapple-headed genius asked. He nodded. Shikamaru punched the blonde's arm for verification, "Good. We're having a meeting at the Hokage Mansion in five minutes. Did anyone tell you?"

"Nah, but wait, who's we?"

"The Council, the usual nine, plus Gaara, I think, minus Chouji and Konohamaru… for obvious reasons."

Naruto's crystalline blue eyes wandered to the cobblestone pathway beneath them, "Oh yeah… obvious reasons."

Shikamaru placed his hand on his best friend's shoulder, "Look, none of us could've done anything to stop Thanos from doing what he did. I mean, it's hard to think why Dr Strange set us up like that but it's been almost seven months, we can't dwell on the past anymore, all we can do now is look to the future."

"I still don't think finding Thanos is off the cards just yet. The day before the final battle, Konohamaru told me he was scared of what was coming, dattebayo, I promised him that we'd both get through this in the end, together, so forgetting him so easily just feels like betrayal at this point."

"It's not betrayal and you're not forgetting him," Shikamaru dropped his hand from Naruto's shoulder, "After the meeting, come to my house, we'll play a game of chess."

Naruto groaned, "Oh, you know I hate chess."

"And I hate meetings, so I need a way to destress."

**.**

Naruto, Shikamaru and Kakashi were the first ones to enter the Hokage Mansion's meeting chambers. All three individuals looked completely different from how they looked three long years ago when the Allied Shinobi Force defeated Madara and Kaguya to save the Shinobi World from the ominous Moon's Eye Plan. Little did they know that the worst was still to come.

Kakashi, now free of his Sharingan burden, had lifted his headband to his forehead like most of the other shinobi. He had cut his hair after the Thanos snap, leaving it only slightly longer than what Naruto's hair used to be like. His onyx eyes scanned the dreary room as he patiently waited for the other councilmen and women in his Hokage robes.

Shikamaru was the only one in the room who had left his hair untouched, instead opting for a beard that had started to grow as stubble along his chin and jawline. The biggest change he'd invested in was the covering up his Konoha flak jacket with a beige trench coat, covered in Nara clan symbols.

Naruto, on the other hand, had undergone the greatest transformation since the end of the war. His bush of spiky blonde hair was now tame and controlled. He substituted his energetic orange jumpsuit for a black jacket with orange pants and black sandals. He looked more like a dad than a shinobi at that point.

"Kami, I am tired." Kakashi admitted to break the silence. With those words, he took away pieces of Shikamaru's and Naruto's souls. They sunk into their seats and sighed in unison.

"Mass panic, riots, disputes, who knew the Shinobi World could fall apart so quickly in just seven months," Shikamaru stared at the ceiling.

"Thanos did, which was why he targeted us, I feel."

Shikamaru shook his head, "I've heard enough of that name for one lifetime. If I never hear his name again, it'll be too soon."

"I second that, I don't like the idea of losing half the planet's population but I don't think that dwelling on it will bring our loved ones back. The best thing to do is to just focus on the positives and roll with the punches," Kakashi sighed.

"The positives?" Naruto wondered.

"Less people and animals mean more crops and food for the survivors. As horrifying as it is to think that some innocent people had to be sacrificed, at least their deaths mean less people will go hungry."

Naruto bit his lower lip in anxiety, "Do _they_ know that though?" he asked in reference to the village.

"Do you think we'd be having so many riots and protests if they did?"

"Protests? What are they protesting?"

"Just about anything they can. Not enough toilet rolls in stores, protest, shinobi don't have anyone to fight, protest, streets are half as empty as they used to be, protest. The people are angry, protests are they best way to express that anger if it's against the Hokage."

The whiskered warrior looked out the window, "It's horrible," he added.

"You wouldn't know though, you've been locked away somewhere for six months, some of the villagers thought you were snapped away too, believe it or not," Shikamaru laughed.

"Really?"

"Yeah, we managed to convince them you survived, but then you gave us the keys to your mansion and just vanished. Half of the shinobi in the village were afraid they'd find your body hanging somewhere with a rope around your neck."

"Geez, Shika, a bit dark, don't you think?"

Kakashi jumped in, "Shikamaru's right. You took that loss harder than I did, and I was the one in charge of the mission, so we were afraid you wouldn't be able to handle all of that."

Naruto shook his head, "Come on Kakashi, it's not like that was my first time fighting a godly being with the end of the world stacked on my shoulders. When I fought Pain, I had to fight him knowing that if I failed, he'd use Kurama to create some super weapon that'd destroy the Shinobi World as we knew it. And… and Madara, if I lost to him, with his Ten-Tails and his truth-seeking balls, then everyone would be a White Zetsu by now, the same goes for Kaguya. I'm used to facing enemies who are stronger than me in every way, in fact, at this point, it's almost like they're attracted to me, dattebayo. It was only a matter of time before I lost."

The room descended into silence. Kakashi leaned over the table before sitting fingers tented, "This village needs a therapist. Like a village therapist to handle moments like this."

Shikamaru chuckled, "How brave of you to assume Naruto would ever visit a therapist," he turned to his best friend, "Your compound, it's still being used as a home for the homeless?"

"Yeah, for those who managed to survive having a planet dropped on them, dattebayo."

"Moon… but if that's the case, then where have you actually been?"

"I've been crashing over at the Hyuuga Compound," Naruto sighed.

"Really? I thought Hinata would've chewed your head off after what happened to Kiba."

"And Shino… and Neji… yeah, no matter how hard I tried, it was hard to convince her that their deaths were not my fault," Naruto stared out the window.

Kakashi shrugged, "How could you? When you yourself are convinced that they are."

Naruto turned to his mentor, "I guess, though I decided that since majority of their clan was wiped out by the attack, I might as well help out around the compound. She doesn't trust me yet, nor does she look at me the way she used to, but she tolerates me and we can take it one step at a time," his eyes lit up, "Did she tell you she was pregnant?"

Shikamaru laughed, "It's a very hard thing to miss. Her, Temari, Karui, Sakura, for all we know Kakashi might have gotten someone pregnant too and we'd never know."

The masked shinobi burst out laughing, "Never, I see the trouble you and Sasuke go through to make sure Temari and Sakura are pleased, respectively. Count me out."

"Naruto, you can count yourself lucky in that aspect. No waking up at midnight to appease your troublesome wife."

"Troublesome am I now?" the door swung open to reveal Temari, Sakura and Sasuke.

"What are the odds," the whole room exploded in laughter. Naruto opened his teary eyes to give all three shinobi a quick look over. The only person who hadn't changed their appearance that much was Sasuke, who managed to retain his one-armed hobo aesthetic. Temari had reduced her pigtails from four to two, and swapped her shinobi attire for a loose-fitting black kimono, which made sense since she was unlikely to do any fighting in her current state, as much as that angered her. Sakura had the same idea, exchanging her red dress for a pink kimono and longer hair.

After his chuckle, Naruto answered, "Actually, since I've been taking care of Hinata, I have had to satisfy her food cravings and bear the brunt of her mood swings," Sasuke, Sakura and Temari took their seats as he continued, "It's not much but I do run to the store for her to get some ice-cream or chips if she needs them, I make her tea if she's too lazy to get up, bring her more cushions when she needs them, cook when the Hyuuga servants aren't available, you know, odd things around the house, after all, it's the least I could do after I put her through so much trauma."

His comment elicited different responses.

"It must kill you, knowing that that baby isn't yours," Kakashi sighed.

"How long have you been back in the village?" Temari wondered, finally realising that Naruto was there.

"You've been staying with Hinata?" Sasuke asked.

"You can't blame only yourself for the lives lost, we were all there, Naruto," Sakura said.

"Am I the only one surprised to hear that Naruto can cook?" Ino asked entering the room, "Last time I checked, you ate ramen for breakfast, lunch and dinner."

Naruto looked around, astonished that so many people were interested in his story all of a sudden. He scrolled through the answers in order of length of answer. He turned to Sasuke, "Yes," he then turned to Temari, "Never left, but about fifteen days," he moved to Ino next, "I've been learning to cook for the last two years," he finished off with Kakashi, "It did at first, but I slowly grew to accept that they had no intentions of hurting me personally, the least I can do for Kiba is make sure his wife and baby are safe."

"What happened to your hair?" Sakura asked.

Ino placed her hand on it as she walked behind him, "I don't know, I kinda like it. Makes Naruto look more mature, which is something I never thought I'd say."

"An old friend told me it suited me more, I thought why not try it out, dattebayo," Naruto shrugged.

Sakura beamed, "You look like a dad."

"Sorry, sorry I'm late," Hanabi apologised entering the meeting room. She looked out at the people in the room, "I'm still early, I'm so tired," she palmed her face before taking her seat closest to the door.

"No need to stress, Hanabi-Sama, we're still waiting for Karui, Tsunade and the other Kage."

"Other Kage?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, Gaara, Darui, Chojuro, and Kurotsuchi."

"What happened to Cougarkage and Old Man Kage, dattebayo?"

"Kage retire, Naruto, and after leading the fight against Madara in the war_ and_ battling Thanos, I don't blame them."

Shikamaru looked around, "Are we just going to ignore the fact that he called the former Mizukage a cougar?"

Sakura sulked, "I mean, he's not wrong. She called my Sasuke good-looking, even though he was only seventeen and she was like 50?"

"31," Shikamaru corrected.

"You're keeping track of how old she is, are you? Well, why don't you go marry her and confirm her cougar ways?" Temari burst. What a drag, Shikamaru thought.

"I wouldn't mind at all," Mei commented, entering the venue with Chojuro, Darui and Gaara.

"What?!" Temari glared at the older woman.

"Please, don't provoke her," Shikamaru pleaded.

"Oh, I'm only joking with her," Mei shrugged taking her seat. She mouthed, or am I, as she took her seat. Temari flared up. Shikamaru deadpanned.

"What brings you here, Mei?" Kakashi asked as Kurotsuchi, Tsunade and Karui entered the room.

"As a retired Kage, I barely ever leave my village nowadays, so the moment Chojuro told me you scheduled a meeting with the other Kage, I had to come. Plus, he's still learning the ropes, so I wanted to make sure no one was cheating the Hidden Water Village out of a good deal," Mei opened her eyes to ask, "What is this meeting even about anyway?"

"Well, it's a meeting I feel is five months too late. There have been some issues of concern between the Five Great Shinobi Nations ever since Thanos wiped out half our universe. One of the more recent events being a battle that broke out in the Hidden Rain Village between a Suna troop, a Konoha troop and an Iwa troop. Now I know none of us want our shinobi to fight their fellow man after fighting alongside each other in the Fourth Great Shinobi World War, but at the same time, I don't need to remind people of what happened the last time we let things get heated in Ame. For those of you who don't know, two Great Shinobi World Wars, Hanzo, and Pain are what happened. So, I feel like it'd be disrespectful, not only to those who fought in the Fourth Shinobi War, but to Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and those who died fighting Thanos, to take these issues lightly," Kakashi explained.

Naruto unfolded his arms, "Wait, what?"

"They risked life and limb fighting Kaguya in the search for peace, and members of the anime universe banded together in search of prosperity. This is why I gathered some of the most trustworthy and influential people in the Elemental Nations to ask for ideas on how to approach this new Era of Peace and Prosperity amongst Nations."

Tsunade raised her hand, "I think, with this being such a big decision to make, it'd be best to have a short recess and continue tomorrow so that everyone can come with their pieces of advice on how to tackle this."

Mei nodded, "I agree. As important as it is, I don't think this is something we should rush. Although it'd mean we have to cut the meeting short, I think now that everyone knows what the main idea is tomorrow morning, we'll return with an idea each and we'll sift through the ideas, removing bad from good until we have a solid plan."

Kakashi agreed, "I think unless anyone has anything to say, we can wrap it up for the evening," no one spoke up, so Kakashi stood to announce, "Meeting adjourned."

**.**

"You ever thought about running for leader of the Hidden Rain Village?" Shikamaru asked, sitting cross-legged behind a chess board. Naruto glared at him momentarily. The barefoot shinobi shook his head softly, everything he knew was there in the Hidden Leaf, although it never loved him, it had moulded him. He knew the culture, the people, the places. The Will of Fire flowed through him more than it did anyone else. All Ame would have done is douse his flame. Naruto made a move. Shikamaru made one of his own. Naruto scanned the board quickly before making a move.

"Konohamaru… sometimes I felt sorry for the kid," Shikamaru said.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"I was always so selfish as to the people I lost, but he lost so much more. First his mom and his dad, then Lord Third, and finally Asuma-Sensei, poor kid must've thought his whole family lineage was cursed."

"What's the supposed to mean, shinobi die all the time, it's what you sign up knowing when you put this headband on."

"Is that what you'd tell Konohamaru?" Naruto refused to respond to that, "I'm just saying, Konoha used to have clans packed to the brim with clan members. Now… you're the last Uzumaki and Namikaze, Temari and I are the last members of the Nara clan, Sasuke and Sakura are the last Uchiha, Hinata, Hanabi and Hoheto are the last of the Hyuuga, Mirai is the last Sarutobi-."

"Where are you going with this?"

"I feel like this Era of Peace and Prosperity might be the bumpiest era in the modern shinobi age, even without Thanos. Asuma-Sensei told me to protect the king at all cost and I spent weeks trying to figure out what on earth he meant by the king."

"Did you end up figuring out who the king was?"

Shikamaru made his final move, removing the bishop between his rook and Naruto's king. To the right of the king were his own pieces, moving to the left would have been like looking down the barrel of a gun to see another rook. Chess checkmate, "The king is the generation that comes next. The game is not over until there is no hope for the next generation."

"But Konohamaru was the next generation, and he's dead. When Jiraiya died, you told me that one day we were going to be teachers ourselves, and one day someone would call me Sensei, I think Konohamaru's proof that I'm not ready for that any time soon."

Shikamaru stared at the board, "Which brings us to chess," Naruto looked down at Shikamaru's rook looming over his king. As good as the blonde could get, he had never been able to beat his fellow shinobi, "Your move."

The blonde paused, "But it's checkmate," Naruto looked up. Shikamaru unfolded his arms to reach over, grab Naruto's knight and move it three spaces to the left, then a space down so it spring over his rook and land in the space between the rook and the king.

"My move," he said eliminating the knight, so Naruto could take down the first rook, the next rook's moves were guarded carefully by Naruto's rook and queen, "I'm glad you bought up what I said about Jiraiya… just like a father never wants to bury his son, a Sensei never wants to bury his student, but sometimes in chess, people are so distraught when they lose their queen that they forget their main objective was supposed to be protecting the king."

"What do you mean?"

"A queen is a lot more useful, she basically spiderwebs around the whole board whilst the king only moves just enough to save himself from precarious situations. What I'm trying to say is, as sad as it is to lose a queen… together, a rook and bishop can do exactly what she can do. As heart-breaking as it was losing someone as precious to you as Konohamaru, don't let that side-track you from how important Temari's, Hinata's and Sakura's children will become. Those are the future wielders of the Sharingan, Byakugan and Shadow Puppetry Techniques. So, if you, Naruto, the man who saved the Shinobi World are so quick to lose hope in the next generation then surely checkmate will soon follow Thanos or no Thanos," Shikamaru stood up to dust himself off.

"I think I kinda understand what you're saying."

Shikamaru grinned, "No need to overwhelm yourself. Go home, sleep on it, maybe tomorrow we'll play some shogi to offer you a real challenge."

"What about the game?"

"You won… it's queen and rook checkmate."

Naruto stared at the board. Shikamaru's king was pressed against the upper left corner of the board by a rook and queen, "Oh… what… wait…. That means… I finally beat you, Shikamaru! I'm the best in the world, dattebayo!"

The pineapple-head smacked the back of Naruto's head, "Shut up and go sleep. If you wake Temari up with all that screaming, you won't be the only one beating me tonight."

**.**

That night, Naruto raided the Hyuuga Compound's Main House kitchen in search of something to eat. He quietly opened up the fridge to drown the dark room in a deep yellow light. Too exhausted from the day's proceedings to cook or boil anything, even ramen, he just grabbed slices of processed cheese and ham, sat at the dining room table in the dark and just ate in silence.

The memories cycled through his head. The good ones and the bad. He thought about the rise. Headbutting Gaara to save the village from the One-Tailed Tanuki, going toe-to-toe with all six Paths of Pain, entering the war after fighting Tsunade and Ay, going on to fight Itachi and Nagato, the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Tailed Beasts and their Jinchuuriki, Obito, the Ten-Tails and then Ten-Tails Obito, defeating Obito, Madara and Kaguya and still having the stamina to follow up on his promise to Sakura and bring Sasuke back to the village. He used to be at the top of the world. Then they dragged him back down to earth. There he was, the saviour of the Shinobi World, eating slices of cheese and slices of ham at the dead of midnight.

Naruto pulled out the phone Kara had given him. The battery had died, since there were no chargers on his world, and it wouldn't have mattered either way because there was no way he could get a signal to even call her.

Kara was gone.

Shuri was gone.

Barbara was gone.

Hinata was pregnant with another man's child.

Ino was dating Sai.

Sakura was engaged to Sasuke.

Tenten was doing her own thing. Fighting battles mutually exclusive to his own.

Temari was always fated to be with Shikamaru.

A lone tear gradually rolled down Naruto's cheek. He let it get to the third whisker before wiping it off, "This is the kind of thinking that got you here in the first place," he whispered staring at a cheese wrapper. He lifted the plastic to get a good look at it in the moonlight, "This is some damn good cheese, dattebayo."

**.**

**So far, I think it's a relative 180 from the previous fic, I'd love to hear your opinions on it, but I'll respond to most of the reviews from the previous fic as well as to this new fic in the next chapter. Until then, I wish you good luck and thank you.**


	2. What Do You Want?

**Reviews**

**.**

I'm not sure if I'll answer reviews in every chapter, I'll probably wait until there's a reasonable amount of reviews and answer them every second or third chapter, but this is one review to address the comments from the other story and to chapter one of this one.

For those who were enjoying the previous story, I'm hoping you'll be able to enjoy this one too. The reason I said this was relatively a 180 from the previous story is because a) it won't be focusing on different perspectives from different universes, it's going to be the story from Naruto's perspective mostly, b) I'm trying to go for a less depressing approach to it, it's only a bit sad now because people just died, but it'll definitely be less mopey Naruto and more number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja as time goes, and c) it's less of a Naruto love story and more of a Naruto bounce back story, which means no harems and less focus on relationship drama.

If there's anything I missed or you have a suggestion for success, feel free to leave a review.

**.**

**Darkseid of the Moon**

**CHAPTER 2**

**What Do You Want?**

**.**

Kakashi, fully clad in traditional Hokage attire, pushed open the doors to the Hokage Manor's boardroom, where numerous public figures from around the Shinobi World awaited him. The rooms chatter softened to a murmur as he entered, before returning to easy chatter once he took his seat, "Okay, so unfortunately, we're all still here," he commented to incite a light laughter. Kakashi turned to Shizune, his scribe for the meeting, to ask, "Who are we waiting for?"

The mednin's eyes darted down to her clipboard before returning to Kakashi, "Just Naruto and Hanabi."

"Check Naruto and Hanabi off that list, dattebayo!" Naruto stomped into the room with a foxy grin wrapped along his face. Hanabi came stuttering in behind him to take her seat.

"Well, I didn't expect you, of all people, to be late, Naruto."

The blonde genin scanned the room before sheepishly throwing his hands behind his head and saying, "Sorry I'm late, I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life."

Kakashi's eyes creased, his mask wrinkled to form the faint outlines of a smile, "Have a seat."

Temari looked around, "Hold up, where's Gaara?"

"That's what I was going to speak about first, so since everyone's here, I can get started. Before we pile in ideas on what to do about the tension building up amongst shinobi, I need to talk about why Gaara's not here. This morning, I got a message from the Hidden Sand Village stating a group of shinobi had attacked a nearby village and were threatening to attack the Sand Village next."

Shikamaru groaned, "First, protests and mass-panic, now murderous rioting… or treason?"

"We don't know yet, Gaara left in the middle of the night to investigate; see if the damage looked like any group we knew of, if not then maybe it's a step up from protesting to murderous rioting… but if it's what I think it is, and shinobi from one of the other nations have decided to take the law into their own hands then I'm afraid the people of the Sand will ask for someone's head. Which is what we don't want happening."

"An eye for an eye? My people are smarter than that," Temari said.

"Are these the same people who attacked the Hidden Leaf Village during the Chuunin Exam? The one time almost every shinobi and Kage are in the same village?" Sasuke asked. Shikamaru covered Temari's mouth before she could verbally assault the one-armed hobo.

"Sasuke! We have no time for that. With this news, we now know that if we don't show those people that we're doing something then they'll gladly do something for us… so, now for the ideas."

Tsunade spoke first. Shizune jotted down minutes as she suggested, "My idea was a change of headbands. During the war, Mifune created those Allied Shinobi headbands, I think it'd show that we're united as leaders if we went back to using the Shinobi headbands instead of the separate villages' headbands."

"Good idea. Noted," Kakashi said. Mei raised her hand. Kakashi acknowledged her.

"This time though, Naruto has to wear one too."

"What?" Naruto sat up.

"During the Fourth Shinobi War, Naruto was the only one not wearing an Allied Shinobi headband, it might have rallied up the Konoha shinobi, but it was seriously demotivating the other villages, especially the Hidden Mist."

Naruto shrugged, "I'm sorry, I was too busy beating the bad guys up to ask someone where they got the flashy headbands, plus you Kage tried to keep me out of the fight for as long as possible, remember?"

"Enough!" Kakashi yelled, "The headbands are noted and Naruto will wear one just like everyone else, next."

"Another Kage Summit, this time we listen to what the villagers have to say then we meet up, see what each village wants, and we find a compromise," Kurotsuchi suggested.

"Nice, any other ideas?"

"I think we need to find a way to make it up to the Rain Village," Shikamaru thought aloud.

"Make it up to them how?"

Shikamaru scratched his bearded chin, "Perhaps we'll have to sit down with them or ask some of their citizens what a suitable apology gift would be."

Naruto couldn't help but continuously stare at the clock as the meeting ran on. He'd zoned out halfway through the proceedings and never had anything to add so he disappeared into the background.

**.**

Heavenly grey skies opened up over the Hidden Leaf Village as gallons of liquid nectar were dropped onto the land. The rain was falling everywhere and on everything. It rained on the trees surrounding the village, dripping off the ends of leaves to fall onto the moist greenery and soil. It rained in the streets, on roofs, trickling down and gushing out of gutters to settle on the cobblestone Konoha pathways as puddles. The pitter-patter of childlike youth danced on the umbrellas of citizens who continued to live their daily lives as the world livened around them.

"Ayame-chan," Naruto greeted, pushing the door open with his shoulder whilst shaking the droplets off his umbrella. The older woman was in the process of removing her apron as he entered. He quickly glanced at the sign to see 'open' still facing the world outside, "Oh wait, is the shop closing?"

"Yeah, but turn that sign over and come sit down, I can make you a quick bowl of ramen to warm you up," she said tying her apron back up. He switched the sign over to 'closed' before taking his seat in front of the counter, "Miso?" she confirmed reaching into a cupboard to grab a bowl. Naruto gave her a nod of affirmation. The room descended into temporary silence. Nothing but the sound of rain. Ayame boiled the water in preparation, "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah, I guess that's because I haven't been graffitiing any Hokage Monuments in a while."

Ayame giggled, "Nah, I mean for the last eight months or so. I was afraid you'd slipped into some kind of major depressive state after finding out about Hinata and Kiba. It's good to see that you're taking it well though."

"Me and depressive states, you worry too much, Ayame," the blonde knucklehead took a moment to adjust his headband, "And if I'm going to be Hokage one day it's my job to be able to keep my emotions in check for the sake of the villagers who look up to me," Naruto pointed at the shiny metal.

"You're like a little brother to me, Naruto, it's my job to worry about you, plus even Hokage get sad sometimes," Ayame slid the bowl across the counter to the young man before untying her apron again, "Hey, do you remember the first time you came to this shop?" she leaned over the flat wooden structure.

"How could I forget, dattebayo?" the heavy rain echoed off the cobblestone outside, "It was a rainy day, just like today. What was I, like eight? I'd gotten kicked out of my apartment because the Third Hokage's assistant didn't pay my rent for that month, I was cold and wet and this was the only place that was open, because Old Man Ichiraku works come rain or shine. He invited me in, gave me the largest bowl of miso ramen he could cook up, put it on the counter and told me to eat up so I could grow big and strong, protect you and the village one day."

"Protect me? When on earth did he tell you to protect me?"

"He said something like, he'd already experienced most of what life had to offer and that since I'm only like three years younger than you or something, he'd hand-chosen me to be your most trusted guardian. Honestly, it was more than ten years ago so the details are foggy, dattebayo."

Ayame bowed her head over the counter, "That damn fool, always trying to protect me, every step of the way."

"Where is the old man anyway, I haven't seen him… in years."

She stared at him through silky brown locks. A teardrop glistened through the darkness, hanging onto the corner of her eye for dear life, "He… he, uh, died, seven months ago, turned to dust right in front of my eyes."

Naruto's ear-to-ear grin relaxed, "Oh… I'm so sorry, Ayame-chan."

"What? You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about," she laughed, wiping the tear off her cheek, "As you said, my dad always felt like he had lived enough of his life to die happy, and at least it was painless, there are much worse ways to go, you know."

"Yeah, exactly," Naruto nodded. He slurped down some ramen before casually changing the subject, "I'm surprised you haven't changed this place into a tsukumen restaurant yet though."

"And have you bark at me again, no thank you," she laughed grabbing Naruto's empty bowl and dropping it in the sink. The older woman began shutting up shop from the back, "Plus Ichiraku Tsukumen doesn't quite have that same ring."

"It definitely doesn't, dattebayo!"

"Yeah, so I just kept it as a ramen shop but made sure that on the menu we had cuisine from many different lands. It helps keep the menu fresh, plus when another war breaks out, at least I can have friends and foes from all villages coming to Ichiraku Ramen Shop to sample some cuisine from their homelands."

Naruto picked up his umbrella and plastic bag that he'd entered the store with, "You heard about that too, huh?"

"How could I have not? Unrest amongst villagers, farmers burning their own crops down, a mini-war out in the Hidden Rain Village and now a village near the Hidden Sand gets attacked and no one knows by who, these are the dry and windy conditions that lead to news spreading like wildfire," the restaurant owner walked up and down the aisle in search of something, "Shit, I left my umbrella at home," she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, "and I know exactly where it is, I can literally see it leaning against the wall by the door."

"No need to stress, your house is on the way back and I'm sure my umbrella has room for two."

"On the way back, where have you been staying these days?"

"At the Hyuuga Compound, I'm staying there with Hinata until all the houses are fixed and the citizens can return to their own homes."

The duo stepped out into the rain. Naruto pushed his parasol to full extension, shielding Ayame and himself from the cascading heavens. The brunette turned to lock up shop before walking alongside Naruto, "I heard she's pregnant, is it yours?"

"No, Kiba's, I figured just like Asuma wanted Shikamaru to look after Kurenai until Mirai was born, Kiba would have wanted me to look after Hinata, at least until their child is born."

"Really, doesn't it hurt knowing the child isn't yours?"

"Why does everyone ask me that? No, it doesn't hurt. People fall in love, people fall out of love, it's the human in us, I shouldn't hold it against either of them if they decided to start a family together. After all, the world doesn't revolve around me, even if the show is named after me," a smile crept across Ayame's smooth face as she stared into Naruto's deep blue eyes, "Ayame-chan, why are you looking at me like I'm a piece of meat, dattebayo?" he asked a little freaked out.

"It's just that the twelve-year-old you would have never said that, I don't even think the sixteen-year-old you would have said that. It's almost scary to hear that from you after watching you obsess over Sakura for so long," her eyes wandered down Naruto's arm to the plastic bag in his hand, "What about the bag?"

"This? It's chips, ice-cream, and sweets, Hinata always has cravings for sweet things, and sometimes she has them in the dead of night, so to give the servants a break, I buy her things she can snack on in the middle of the night. I also bought some cheese for myself, I think I'm going through a phase."

"Naruto Uzumaki is taking care of someone else for a change, what have they done to my brother," she asked feeling Naruto's forehead.

"Ayame-chan," he whined.

"This is not you, the Naruto I know would bring her to the shop for a bowl of ramen or something, that she'd eventually pay for. You're really doing all this for her expecting nothing in return?" Naruto shook his head. She stopped to take it in. Naruto paused and reversed so that she was under the umbrella. He stared at her with curiosity in his eyes. The rain was falling everywhere and on everything, "You're gonna make a great Hokage one day."

**.**

"Guess who's back, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled into the practically empty house whilst tossing his keys onto the nearby counter. He strolled into the kitchen to unload his snacks into the fridge and pantry.

"Naruto? What took you so long?" a soft timid voice enquired. The blonde shinobi slowly turned to face the former Hyuuga heiress. She stood under the doorframe in a lavender nightdress, rubbing her bloodshot eyes.

"Did I wake you up, Hinata-chan?"

"No, I've been trying to fall asleep for the last three hours," Hinata's once smooth and silky dark blue hair was now a frizzy black mess that she'd tied into a bun, "Maybe with you here I can actually get some sleep."

"What am I going to do, carry the baby for you while you sleep?" Naruto asked tossing the packet of chips at Hinata. She caught them in one hand. As pregnant as she was, she was still a kunoichi.

"Oh could you, you'd be doing me such a favour, darling," Hinata tried to hide her little waddle as she walked into the dimmed hallway, "Plus, my OB/GYN says I'm due in less than eleven weeks so if you could take your next shift in about ten weeks or so, that'd be great."

"I've died before, I don't want to experience anything that'll bring me close to that feeling ever again thank you very much."

"You have? When was this?"

"Uh, when Madara ripped Kurama out of me, how do you think the Ten-Tails became a thing?"

"I don't know, no one ever informed me of how Tailed Beasts worked, Hiashi said it wasn't my place to know," Hinata walked around her bed to lie down on her side of the bed, where all the pillows in the homestead were gathered to allow her to sleep comfortably. Naruto stood at the door with arms folded, "Tell me the story of how you almost died, that oughta put me to sleep," she said opening up the packet of chips.

"Ouch?" Naruto shrugged.

"Are we telling stories? I want to listen," Hanabi rushed into the room to lie down alongside her sister, "What are we talking about?"

"How you should be asleep," Hinata retorted.

"I'm a genin now. Adults don't have bedtimes," she groaned.

"You're also the leader of the most powerful clan in the Leaf, but sure, you're a genin," Naruto chuckled, "And we were talking about the Fourth Shinobi War."

"Oh yeah, that, I wasn't allowed to fight. They said my life was too precious," Hanabi groaned.

"They said more or less the same thing to me, word of advice, next time, beat the shit out of the Raikage and prove that you deserve to be in the war, dattebayo."

"Easier said than done," Hinata laughed.

Naruto gave the woman, five years his junior, a toothy grin, "I'm kidding, and I'm sure you would've hated it. I mean I did."

"How come?"

"I fought for three days straight with no breaks and no pay, talk about hard labour; I had a meteor dropped on me… or was it two, I feel like it was two; I fought three Susanoo, Itachi's, Sasuke's and Madara's, two of which were perfect, so basically, anyone who could create a giant untouchable flaming samurai, I had to fight; I was declared clinically dead, Sakura had to manually pump my heart with her hand; oh yeah, I lost an arm, as you can see" he knew he was forgetting something.

"Wait, you died?" Hanabi asked.

"Yeah, I had Kurama extracted from me by Madara, then Zetsu stole the other half of Kurama, so even with all the medical ninjutsu in the world, my fate had already been sealed."

"Then how are you still here?" Hanabi asked crossing her legs in a lotus position.

"I met Six Paths Super Grumps in like the twilight zone between life and death, he basically gave me half of his power and gave Sasuke the other half, together we're like a reincarnation of the Six Paths Super Grumps, I guess"

"You met the Sage of Six Paths?" Hanabi's eyes widened.

"Super Grumps has a better ring to it," Naruto shrugged.

Hanabi leapt off the bed to grasp Naruto's arms, "Naruto! This is serious! Why didn't you tell me you met the father of all shinobi, the man who split chakra in twain, the… the progenitor of chakra?"

"Actually, he's the son… of the progenitor of chakra," Naruto muttered.

"What?"

"Yeah, it's way too complicated to explain properly in one sitting, but Six Paths Super Grumps' mom ate the fruit from the Ten-Tails' tree and became the original Jinchuuriki, she had two children, one was Super Grumps and the other was his brother, who was like the father of the Byakugan… basically," Naruto tried to explain using his own very limited knowledge of the Otsutsuki family line, "but if you want more information on that whole clan, you should ask Sasuke, after all, he spent a whole year in isolation studying them."

Hinata raised an eyebrow, "Didn't you leave with him?"

"After the war? No, he left for atonement, I left because Tsunade thought it would be a good idea to 'parade me' around the Five Great Nations as the saviour of the modern shinobi world."

"Was it?"

"What?"

"Was it a good idea? To parade you like that?" Hanabi wondered.

"Do you think we'd have tension amongst nations if it was? No, of course I didn't want to be away from the village for a whole year and a bit, but it was what Tsunade wanted."

"What do you want?" Hanabi asked, Naruto stared at the much younger woman from his position under the doorframe, "What? I'm actually interested, like forget the village, forget the shinobi world, forget this old bag here, what do you want?" Hinata slapped the back of Hanabi's head.

"Me?" a silver-haired masked jounin asked as he basked in the rays of a peaceful Konoha morning. He looked down at the three twelve-year-olds sitting in front of him before finally introducing himself as he hoped they would to him, "My name is Kakashi Hatake… things I like and things I hate? I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future? Never really thought about it. As for my hobbies? I have lots of hobbies," he finished.

The pink-haired brat to his left groaned whilst holding her knees, "Well that was useless, all he really told us was his name," the dumb blonde on the right nodded in agreement, the brooding raven-head in the middle remained quiet. Kakashi rolled his eye wondering what he'd gotten himself into.

He shrugged, "Okay, your turn, you on the right, you first," he folded his arms.

The bright-eyed blonde shinobi adjusted his headband, "Okay, believe it, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, I like instant ramen in a cup, and I really like the ramen Iruka-Sensei got me at the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, but I hate the three minutes you have to wait after you pour the water in the ramen cup. My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them," Kakashi's face began to sink, "and my future dream is… to be the greatest Hokage, then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody important!" the Uzumaki's path in life was set from that very moment.

The world grew dimmer as Kabuto charged with a kunai knife in hand, "Naruto! Naruto, you don't have to protect me, stop already!" Tsunade cried from her downed position covered in blood. She had no authority over the blonde as he and his clone leapt around her to stand between the two mednin, "Shadow clones won't help you in this situation!"

"Dreams don't come true when you're dead!" Kabuto warned him.

"Get outta the way, Naruto!" she pleaded, "Don't do it!"

He smirked looking over his shoulder, "Heh, don't worry about me."

Blood splattered through the air as metal split bone. A direct hit. Kabuto pierced the twelve-year-old's flesh as thick crimson ooze dripped off his hand. His eyes widened when he tried to retract his hand only for the blonde to bind him.

Naruto lifted his chin to stare Kabuto in the eyes, "Until I become Hokage, I don't care what happens, I'm not gonna die, dattebayo!" he threw his right hand out, "Okay, now let's see you dodge this one," the blonde and his clone began working furiously with what little chakra he had left to create the power, rotation and concentration required to master this jutsu.

Kabuto tried to pull back. No matter how much he bled, Naruto never let go. Tsunade whispered, "Now I see, he made the clone to gather up his chakra… ingenious."

Naruto pulled back, "Compress the chakra, keep it going, this is it…" he plunged it into the mednin's stomach, rearranging organs, twisting skin like scrap metal and tossing the young man into a rock several metres away, "Rasengan!"

Euphoria as Jiraiya sat on a tree stump in front of an exhausted Naruto Uzumaki. The blonde shinobi listened attentively as his white-haired master went on about a world of peace and prosperity, a vision he'd had for decades of a shinobi world where people understood each other regardless of their differences, "… you know Naruto, I truly believe… that the day will come when all people will understand one another and live in harmony."

"Wow, that's kinda deep."

Bringing his speech to an end, he stood up and dusted himself off, "Well then, if I can't find a solution myself, shall I pass the quest on to you?"

Naruto jumped onto his feet, "Yessir! I could never refuse your orders, Pervy Sage!"

Jiraiya burst out laughing.

The laughter died away as Jiraiya sunk into a lake, still smiling. Naruto glared at Nagato's Rinnegan. Konan never shifted from her spot between the two Uzumaki. The gaunt redhead smirked, "Do you really think such thoughts can bring true peace?"

Naruto clenched his fist in front of his face, "They can! Because I made a promise! And I'll keep that promise! I never go back on my word… That's my Nindo, my ninja way!" Nagato was overwhelmed by the raw energy before him. He looked down at Konan, who looked back at him with hope, "I'll inherit my master's will, I swear to make it come true! And if there's no way to true peace, I'll make it out of nothing! As long as I have people who believe in me, I won't give up until the very end."

"Why the hell are you here, you bastard!" Kiba roared, landing on the battlefield with Akamaru, Hinata and Shino, standing between them and the Uzumaki were Sasuke Uchiha and, his new partner, Jugo.

Sakura swallowed her pride to ask, "He's right, what are you doing here, Sasuke?"

Sasuke just looked back at her over his shoulder, "A whole lot as happened, but I've decided to protect the Hidden Leaf Village now. Then after, I will become Hokage."

Naruto stepped forward to stand alongside his brother, "I'm going to be the one who becomes Hokage."

"You once told me, that you're nobody, that you don't want to be anybody… but the truth is, you wanted to be Hokage, just like me," Obito stared at the emptiness below as Naruto went on, "You can hide behind a mask, but it's pointless, you were Kakashi-Sensei's friend, my dad's subordinate, an Uchiha like Sasuke, my senior, and a Leaf Shinobi! You shared the same dream as me! You used to have the same dream as me, now you're the opposite of a Hokage"

Obito turned to walk away, "No! It's because of you that I… I wanted to feel something through you. There is no need to voluntarily walk a rugged path, whose destination isn't even clear, and step over comrade's corpses, so the only sensible thing to do would be to choose a shortcut with a fixed outcome?"

"How would you know what the rugged path even is until someone starts walking down it? That's what the Hokage is for, he walks ahead of everyone else, enduring their own pain, so that's why a Hokage never walks over his comrade's corpses," Naruto ran in front of Obito to meet him face-to-face, "There's no shortcut to becoming Hokage, and no way out for the one who becomes Hokage… correct?"

.

.

.

"Rin was my sole light and hope in all this dark world. After I lost Rin, the whole world as I saw it changed, it became a black hell."

He sighed, "What do I want?" Naruto asked himself, still leaning against the doorframe, arms folded under his muscular chest, "I guess…" he turned to stare at the two Hyuuga Princesses. They'd fallen asleep on Hinata's oversized bed. The whiskered shinobi switched off the light before whispering, "I guess that answer can wait for another day."

He walked over to the bed to tuck Hanabi in, he made sure Hinata was on her side so she wouldn't injure herself or the baby, he fluffed her pillows before strolling over to the curtain to close it. He stared at the midnight sky. A moment of thought. Naruto squinted, "No… no, no, no, no, no, no," he closed the curtains and made his way out of the Hyuuga Compound.


	3. I'll Bring You His Head

**Darkseid of the Moon**

**CHAPTER 3**

**I'll Bring You His Head**

**.**

"You asked why I'm doing all this…"

One rod through the hands. Naruto was crucified. Sage Mode and all, he was at the mercy of Lord Pain and his Rinnegan. Konoha was but a memory. Nothing but the overseers, whose faces were immortalised in carved stone remained. The Akatsuki had won.

"But even if I told you why, I doubt very strongly that the knowledge would change anything at all… But let's say that I take the time to explain to you… what do you think would happen then?" Pain stood up to full elevation, "As I said earlier, what I want is to create peace and bring about justice."

"Create peace…?" Naruto retorted, "Justice? Are you kidding me? Give me a break! You killed my master… and my sensei… hurt my friends… destroyed my village… After all of the horrible things that you've done… Don't you dare talk about peace and justice!"

"Then tell me: what is your goal?"

"First! I'm gonna kill you, and then, I'm gonna bring peace to the Ninja World!"

"Oh… I see… That is noble of you. That _would_ be justice… However… what about _my _family? _My _friends? _My _village? They suffered the same fate as this village at the hands of _you_ Hidden Leaf shinobi… how is it fair to let only you people preach about peace and justice?"

.

.

.

"A vicious cycle of hatred. Right now, we live in such a cycle… I know the past and can foretell the future, it is the same as our history. So, we believe that human beings simply cannot understand each other, and they never will. The shinobi world of ours is ruled by hatred and hatred alone," finally, the orange-haired God of Judgement turned to Naruto and asked, "So, Naruto… _how would you confront this hatred in order to create peace?_"

Naruto opened his lifeless blue eyes to the depressing world around him, "I… I don't know, I don't have an answer."

"He's here! He's here!" Naruto cried sprinting down the hallway towards Kakashi's office. Every time he passed a window, he'd shoot a glance out of it to make sure what he was seeing was real, tangible, not just a figment of his imagination. From every window, from every angle, he saw it. Thanos' ship, hovering motionless over the sleeping Hidden Leaf Village. As he ran, he had to wonder, how many nights had it been up there? Why was he only seeing it then? Had Thanos simply been under their noses, or rather above their heads this whole time?

Naruto burst into Kakashi's office, "Thanos is… back?" The loudmouthed Uzumaki was greeted by an all too familiar sight. His worry turned to anger as the figures standing around Kakashi turned to face him, "Why the hell are you here?"

"Naruto Uzumaki, you're exactly who we were looking for," The Big Blue Boy Scout stood upright with arms folded under his muscular frame.

Kakashi stood up off his seat, "No, he's not, Naruto get out of here."

"Where's the one in one arm," the goateed man in a suit asked. Sasuke shunshin into the room, unsettling the dust beneath him, "Hm, what do you know, right on time."

"What do you want?" the one-armed Uchiha snarled.

"We found Thanos, and we need you two to help," Steve Rogers leaned on the Hokage desk.

"Us two? It took a whole squad the last time and we still lost, what makes you think just… ten of us, can defeat him this time?" Naruto asked, including Goku, Vegeta, Diana, Thor and Bruce Wayne, who were yet to say anything.

Sasuke squinted, "How did you even get here in the first place and why did you bring Thanos' ship with you?"

Superman sighed, "Something weird is happening to the universes-."

"Again?" Naruto groaned.

"This is serious. The veil within the multiverse is tearing apart, slowly enough for the universes to remain intact but quickly enough for some of the Anime, Marvel and DC Universes to already be thrown into this crazy neutral zone, and that means soon enough we'll be seeing Western Animation characters roaming around in the DC Universe or vice-versa."

Naruto looked up, "That doesn't sound so bad, maybe it's part of Thanos' snap."

Bruce scoffed, "It's much worse than you think, different universes follow different rules. If the average Joe falls 300 metres in the Western Animation Universe, odds are they'll just have a bruise or bounce off comically, whilst if that same Joe falls 300 metres according to the Anime Universe's logic, chances are, they'll break every bone in their body."

"Yeah," Tony grabbed the baton, "But we're unable to tell which universes will follow which rules until we see it, and under one neutral zone, it'll be impossible to tell which universe becomes more powerful than which. There's a chance there could be no chakra once every universe has entered the neutral zone, there could be no ki, there could be no… Kryptonians, a universe where the floor is always lava, a universe where everyone is a Superman, where everyone is as powerful as a Saiyan, or where Kryptonians and Saiyans are equally depowered compared to a greater race of people… who aren't as nice. You get where I'm going here, the longer we wait, the greater the odds of bad things happening."

"And how are we supposed to stop this thing, dattebayo? We're ten people and this is a multiverse-level threat."

"We managed to locate Thanos using the ship that he left over after our battle seven months ago. His ship has a teleporter which he used to travel from the Marvel Universe to this one. We get there, we attack him, we get the Stones, we reverse this whole multiverse thing and we return to our normal lives," Superman explained, "It's that simple."

"But I was saying," Kakashi interjected, "We've lost so many people that you two aren't in the right state of mind to fight anyone, let alone Thanos. Naruto, you're starting your life over again, you're the next Hokage, you've made peace with the village and you could usher us into the Era of Peace and Prosperity. Sasuke, you're going to be a dad, Naruto's right-hand-man, none of us want your daughter to grow up without a father."

"… Like Kiba," Naruto thought aloud.

"Look, Naruto," Goku slapped his palm onto Naruto's shoulder, "Vegeta and I lost everything in that battle too, I lost my youngest son… my wife… and my best friends… Vegeta lost his son too, and many people he cherished dearly. As warriors ourselves we know, first-hand, what it's like losing people close to you from something you can't fight off. So now that we can use our fists to bring them back, I say we should. I remember how much you scratched me up during our fight, I'm not gonna lie, I took you lightly at first, one of my biggest mistakes and you made me pay for it, and I never fought like that in a while. This time, Thanos made one of his biggest mistakes, he should've killed you when he had the chance and now that you're alive, you should make _him_ pay for it."

Sasuke's right hand wrapped around Naruto's left arm, "I'm with you on this one, so whatever you choose, I'll support…"

"I won't force anything, Naruto… tell me… what do you want?" as Kakashi asked, Hanabi's voice bounced around in the back of the blonde's head. What did he want? Honestly speaking, what was he going to tell the Hyuuga Princesses before they fell asleep? What did Naruto Uzumaki want?

Naruto clenched his fists with eyes closed. _"Foolish," a metallic golden glove reached through the darkness and wrapped itself around Naruto's thick neck. Air left his body quickly, "You do not have what it takes to kill a god."_ His eyes drew open as crimson slits, "I want to kill Thanos, rip him apart with my own hands."

Tony nodded, "Then it's settled, we'll leave tomorrow. It's an intergalactic teleporter so it should take us there in a matter of seconds. Please stretch before you enter, we don't want anyone pulling a muscle while fighting the big purple ball sack…" he chuckled. Everyone prepared to exit the room, but Tony stopped them to say something quickly, "I told Kakashi this before but I think I also owe it to you two, we apologise sincerely for what happened with Dr Strange, his claim is that without a 'proper sacrifice' the odds would have been stacked against us, although you may not forgive us, I just think the least I can do is offer this apology and just say, tomorrow we're not fighting for any specific universe, but we're fighting for the greater good of every universe… so let's bring our A-Game, shall we?"

**.**

Sasuke shut the door behind him, submerging is frame in darkness. Sakura flicked a light switch on down the hallway, "Sasuke-kun, is that you?"

"Yeah, I'm back."

"What's wrong? The way you sprinted out of here I almost thought you saw a ghost," she walked up to her husband to adjust his collar and headband.

His onyx eyes gazed into her bloodshot emerald pair, "Were you crying?"

"Heh, yeah, every time you jump up and leave in the middle of night, I always fear you're going to leave me again, you know, on one of your year-long atonement missions."

Sasuke's brow creased, "I only did that once."

"Twice, if you count the time you left after Thanos, in fact the only reason you came back was because I was carrying your child; three times, if you include when you left me back when we were twelve."

"On all three occasions, I came back stronger, didn't I?"

"Yeah… But the world doesn't need a strong Sasuke right now. According to Kakashi-Sensei, the world doesn't even need Sasuke, but I still do, Sarada and I still do… which is why I'm glad you'll never leave me again…" Sakura leaned in to kiss her husband, but Sasuke tilted his back. She pressed her head against his chest. The older woman shuddered as a wet spot appeared on Sasuke's shirt. The Uchiha remained motionless, "What is it this time?"

"I'm going to need you to bring me my left arm."

"The Hashirama arm, but…?"

"Sakura, I'm going to need my left arm."

**.**

"Gotcha," Naruto whispered loud enough to spook Hinata, who was shoulders-deep in the fridge. The young Hyuuga quickly closed the door to stare at her knuckleheaded friend.

"What is wrong with you?"

"Says the person who's absolutely demolishing the ice-cream, you know I bought that to last a week right, dattebayo?"

"Leave me alone, I'm eating for two," Hinata growled before shovelling a spoonful of ice-cream down her throat. Naruto cracked up laughing at the sight of the twenty-year-old mother-to-be acting like a five-year-old who'd gotten caught with her hand in the cookie jar. The Hyuuga woman tried her best not to choke on the frozen treat while laughing at Naruto's laughter. She wiped away the remnants of ice-cream on her face, "I didn't even hear you come in, where were you?"

"Shouldn't you be asleep. Hanabi might be getting lonely."

"Oh no, you're deflecting," Hinata noticed, grabbing a paper towel from the counter to clean her hands, "That's never good, what's wrong this time? Where are you going? Who are you fighting?"

"Okay, wait, before you say anything, what I'm about to do could bring Kiba back."

Hinata stopped wiping, her pure white eyes widened as she locked on to the blonde dumbass, "Thanos?"

"It'll be quick, we'll leave tomorrow morning, we'll be back in the afternoon with Kiba and Konohamaru and Shino… and Neji."

"You're not going anywhere."

Naruto's brow furrowed, "What do you mean I'm not going, this is my chance to right a wrong, I have no choice but to go."

"Don't stress me out right now, Naruto, when I say you're not going, I mean, you're not going anywhere!"

"Hinata-chan, you're acting weird."

"What's all the shouting for?" Hanabi asked rubbing her eyes.

"Hinata doesn't want me to bring Kiba back."

"You're going to bring uncle Kiba back?" Hanabi's face livened up.

"And Konohamaru, and Neji…"

"He's going to fight Thanos!"

"That's not the main point of it…"

"Call a spade a spade."

"Look, Hinata, I was more informing you than asking you for permission, whether you like it or not, I'm leaving tomorrow," Naruto explained.

"I said no," Hinata yelled.

"Why?"

"Am I not allowed to just say no?!" she stormed out kitchen, past Naruto, past Hanabi and slammed the door behind her as she entered her room.

"What's wrong with her, dattebayo?"

"You're going to face Thanos alone?"

"Of course not, I have some of the guys from the previous battle," Naruto explained, "… and Sasuke."

"Will you come back?"

Naruto chuckled, "What kind of question is that? Of course I'll come back, I'll even bring you his head."

"Then let me come with you, if it's so safe," Hanabi suggested.

"No way, I didn't say it was safe, I just said I promise to come back and I never go back on a promise, dattebayo. It's my Nindo, my ninja way."

"Pinkie promise," Hanabi demanded.

"What?"

"I don't know, I just… come on, just pinkie promise me that you'll come back," Naruto reluctantly wrapped his larger pinkie around Hanabi's tiniest little finger. She held on for a firm minute, not allowing Naruto to remove his hand. He looked down at her with his hypnotic blue eyes before reminding her that he'd never go back on his word. Finally, the Hyuuga Leader pulled her hand back and whispered, "Yeah, well I guess you should go tell Hinata that… I'm gonna go get some sleep."

Yeah, you get some rest, I'll see you tomorrow," Naruto said as they went their separate ways. Hanabi strolled into her dimly-lit room, Naruto vanished, into the darkness.

The blonde shinobi pressed his ear against Hinata's door. All he could hear were the faint sounds of her television playing. He knocked on it a few times hoping she'd answer, "Come in…" she hesitantly replied on his last knock. He entered the room to see Hinata sitting up with her eyes locked onto the screen.

Naruto sat alongside the former heiress and sighed, "So, I talked to Hanabi, she made me pinkie promise I'd come back tomorrow… you don't want me to do the same with you, do you?"

"I don't want any of your promises."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"All your life, I've watched you make these stupid promises. You promised Sakura that you'd bring Sasuke back and it cost you an arm and five years of your life. You promised the village you'd protect it and Pain almost killed you over it. You made some stupid promise to become Hokage, and now look where you are, half the village hates you and the other half is to busy fighting the system to care about you."

"Wow, those are some big statements, dattebayo."

Hinata's head sunk, "I'm confused and hormonal, leave me alone…"

"That's what I'm trying to do, but you just keep telling me not to."

"This isn't the time for jokes, Naruto. I've lost so much in the last year that you're the last thing from my old life that I have to hold on to."

Naruto chuckled, "Oh come on, you still have Kurenai-Sensei, and your sister… and this baby, who's a piece of something better than your old life. He's a symbol of what's to come, he's not just Hinata or Kiba, he's a combination of both, with the potential to be a master of both the Byakugan and the Fang Over Fang, just imagine that, dattebayo."

"What about you? Who's going to teach the next generation the Rasengan and Sage Mode and all that?"

"I'll still be here, dattebayo."

"We both know that's a lie, we had a whole army fighting Thanos the last time and we still lost…"

"Now we have pissed off superhuman beings who have nothing to lose, I'm not going to hold anything back this time, Hinata-chan."

"That's exactly what I don't want."

"Why are you so against me fighting Thanos, you should be excited to have Kiba in your life again and me off your back, it's a win-win situation for you."

"Except what if neither of you come back? What if you fail? At least with you here… at least with you here my baby has some kind of dad to be raised by, if you fail, he has nothing, no one."

Naruto shook his head, "Kiba or not, I'm not raising your child, Hinata-chan. When that baby is born, I'd have accomplished what I promised Kiba I'd do, and all this will come to an end. I still want to become Hokage, and I can't juggle being the leader of a village and taking care of a child that's not even mine."

"Get out…"

"What?"

"I said get out…"

"Yeah, I heard that part, I'm wondering what-."

"Why are you still here, get out," Hinata physically shoved Naruto off her bed before commanding him to leave. The confused shinobi slowly made his way out of the room before shutting the door and staring at the ceiling overhead.

"What the fuck just happened?" he asked, basking in the moonlight's haze.

Tick… tock… Tick… tock… Tick… tock… Tick.

"That's an annoying clock," Naruto realised as the cold emptiness of the Hyuuga Compound swallowed him whole. The whiskered blonde, still dressed in his black shirt and orange jumpsuit pants held his hands to his hips and sighed, "I should get them a new clock when I get back."

Tick… tock… Tick… tock… Tick… tock… Tick.


	4. I Brought Back His Head

**So, before this chapter starts, this is a quick response to some of the reviews. The most evident one obviously being that Naruto is a simp or is spineless or a wimp. I would like to reiterate that Naruto will not be ending up with Hinata in this story. The reason he is taking care of her while she's pregnant is because since they didn't know where Thanos was or how to fight him again and bring back all the people that died, Naruto decided the least he could do was help make sure one of his best friends' children was actually brought into the world without any difficulties, he's not going to raise the child or is not dating Hinata, so for the people who came here looking for a NaruHina fanfic this isn't it.**

**In response to atengawchok, so far I don't even see him being paired with anyone. The Shuri pairing from the previous fic is out the window because Naruto isn't exploring the universe with Captain Marvel, Hulk, Hanabi and the others, so the odds are that from here on out, all the interactions he has with women aren't necessarily me trying to ship them. If a pairing pops up, it'll probably be much closer to the end because for now all he needs to worry about is Thanos.**

**To answer Issexwithyourcloneincest, thanks for the constructive criticism. I tried to show using the dialogue Kakashi, Shikamaru and Naruto had initially that there's nothing they can do to get to Thanos. Naruto had no plan B which is why he ended up just trying to move on, it's also why Kakashi didn't want Naruto to fight Thanos, because he believed Naruto had finally come to grips with the fact that it was out of his hands. Now that the superhero universes have given him a lifeline he's just like okay because up until this point they didn't even know there was a way to fight Thanos, considering they don't have any methods of interdimensional transportation. This is also the reason he's not training is because they gave him basically a twelve-hour-period to get ready and Naruto believes the only reason he couldn't defeat Thanos the first time was because he wasn't in the fight mentally. This is why he uses the night to clear up everything between him and Hinata and also Hanabi. He's getting himself in the mental state where all he needs to worry about on the battlefield is Thanos and nothing more. To answer your other points, I was trying to steer Hinata away from being a bitch in this fic. My intentions were to use their interactions to show that there were no hard feelings between them, as well as to show that this time around Naruto is willing to die as long as he can atone for what he's done in the past and keep his promise to Konohamaru and now Hanabi to defeat Thanos no matter what. I haven't, or at least tried not to, show any signs of him being in a relationship as of yet, I don't even think he'll be in one in this fic, he's only been around Hinata, Hanabi and Ayame privately and all those interactions were supposed to just be friendly. Finally, with the drama aspect, It won't be another full Naruto mopey depression session but at the same time I don't want this to be a happy-go-lucky fanfiction because half the universe is still dead, and until now they had no hope of reviving them, so I'm trying to make sure all the drama revolves around that and nothing more.**

**In response to Kyuzikiri, I honestly don't mind if I have 50 favourites or 5k favourites, it's not like I'm writing for money or for fame, I'm not a professional author, I just write to express my emotions and ideas through fanfiction and because at the end of the day, helpful comments, even if I disagree with them, benefit my future writing skills. Plus, I don't mind writing for said 50 people, it's the same reason why I don't mind changing up the story if a chapter gets bad reviews or is moving in the wrong direction because after all, those 50 people take out time from their schedule to read my story, so the least I could do is make it worth their while.**

**Once again, I welcome constructive criticism, it shows you're actually invested and interested in the story and want it to do well, feel free to leave more reviews and enjoy the chapter.**

**.**

**Darkseid of the Moon**

**CHAPTER 4**

**I Brought Back His Head**

**.**

… So the curious thing about breath is that it could be looked at both as a voluntary and involuntary action… you can feel on the one hand I am doing it and on other hand it is happening to me, and that is why breathing is the most important part of meditation. Because it is going to show you, as you'll become aware of your breath, that the hard and fast division that we make between what we do, on the one hand, and what happens to us, on the other, is arbitrary… So that as you watch your breathing, you will become aware that both the voluntary and the involuntary aspects of your experience are all one happening. Now that may at first seem a little scary, because you may think, well am I just the puppet of a happening…?

"Naruto… Naruto."

"Huh?" the blue-eyed blonde looked up at his poncho-clad best friend. He removed the pieces glued to his ear and sat upright. The echoes of superhuman warriors preparing for battle echoed around the Hokage Manor's training area. Tony and Thor had to bring Thanos' ship close enough to the village for everyone to be transported away, those few minutes of suspense were all that stood between Naruto and Thanos. His heart was racing.

"I asked what you were listening to?" Sasuke said.

"Oh, uh, Tony gave this to me, called it an iPod. He said he listens to some of the audio on it before big battles, so he thought it might help calm my nerves… stop me from overthinking, you know." Naruto explained, placing the device on the bench next to him.

"Does it work?"

"I don't know, I guess soon it'll be time to find out," Naruto shook his head before pressing his hand against his heart, causing purple ripples to trickle down his black vibranium-infused top, "But I see you've got the arm on," Naruto spotted Sasuke's bandaged left arm.

"Yeah, this time I want to go all out against Thanos, no mercy."

"Me too, what did Sakura say about you going to fight Thanos though?"

"Nothing that could've stopped me. She knows I've wanted nothing more than to get my hands on Thanos again… now that I've gotten the opportunity, there's nothing _anyone_ could have said to stop me," Sasuke's eyes drifted around the gym, "I guess this is our farewell party."

Naruto looked up at the group of shinobi approaching. Ino, Shikamaru, Sai, Rock Lee and Tenten were the five shinobi, former members of the Konoha 13, who'd chosen to visit Naruto and Sasuke before they left the universe.

"What brings you guys here, dattebayo!" Naruto grinned, jumping off his seat to greet the approaching crowd.

"I just wanted to see the look on your face before you killed Thanos," Shikamaru chuckled.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino ran past the blonde to wrap her sinewy arms around Sasuke's seated figured.

The brooding emo obviously fought her off, yelling, "Oh come on, get a grip! I'm married now! This act is getting old!" as Ino persisted in her attempts to get a goodbye hug and kiss.

"It's such an amazing honour you have Naruto, the honour of defeating the big bad and saving not just the world but the universe. If I were in your situation the searing passion of the flames of youth would overcome me and I would just… just…"

Tenten smacked Lee upside the head with the giant scroll on her back, "Settle down, stallion," she commented returning the scroll to its normal position, "… but really Naruto, I'm so proud of you, and I'm sure Neji would be proud of you too if he was here."

"He will be here, dattebayo, soon."

"How sure are you on that?" Sai wondered.

"I promise to bring him back, and I never go back on a promise. A promise is what brought Sasuke back after all, when everyone told me he was too far gone," Naruto grinned.

"Get her off me!" Sasuke fought.

"Ino-chan, please stop harassing the nice homeless man," Sai smiled.

"Homeless?" did he forget Sasuke was the owner of the Uchiha Compound, besides the Senju, the largest compound in the Hidden Leaf.

Ino reluctantly stopped fighting for her goodbye hug to return to Sai's side, "But Naruto, if you're so sure about it, then I guess there's no reason to doubt you. All I can say is good luck, right?"

"Yeah… good luck," Ino confirmed.

"But you know I think luck shouldn't be a factor in wishing someone farewell, especially before a battle that he's not only lost before but could die a horrible death from, if you have no skill and luck is all you're riding on then death surely awaits, knowing Thanos he'll probably hang…" Sai was cut off by Ino smashing his head into the wooden flooring.

"Long story short, Sai says good luck," Ino smirked.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Thanos awaits," Tony yelled before activating his Bleeding Edge armour, removing his sunglasses and whispering, "Show time."

Wonder Woman picked up her sword and shield. Superman stood up. Batman donned his metallic cowl. Captain America readied his gauntlet shields. Goku unzipped his tracksuit to reveal his orange Gi. Vegeta exploded into Super Saiyan form. Sasuke tapped Naruto's shoulder. "Let's go," he muttered before exiting the building with the other fighters.

Thor, Iron Man, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Captain America, Goku, Vegeta, Sasuke and Naruto all stood in a circle under the massive ship's teleporter. If these ten warriors couldn't do it, then no one could. Thor flipped Stormbreaker before cracking his neck, "This time we go for the head."

Streaks of blue energy slammed into the earth surrounding the team. Bit by bit, they started disappearing as the energy dissipated. Their legs vanished, followed by their arms, then their torsos, finally with one last blink, they were gone.

The ship was programmed to return to space when the process was complete, so as instructed, it began its ascent into the heavens. Shikamaru watched its climb carefully, with hands behind his head, "What a drag," he sighed, "but I'm sure he'll be back."

Naruto shut his eyes. He exhaled, "Come on, come on, stay calm, stay calm," the whiskered idiot whispered. He clenched his fists and swallowed spit that felt more like a rock before inhaling through his nose, "This is your last chance… do it for peace, do it for the village, for Kiba, for Chouji, for Shino… for Konohamaru."

Flashes.

"You've got no parents, no brothers! What can you possibly know about me?!" Sasuke charged, "You can't understand, so shut up!" he roared as the sound of a thousand birds chirping echoed through the empty valley.

Naruto approached at full speed with his Rasengan ready, all he could whisper was, "Sasuke… I…"

A young Sasuke stood up, dressed in black, to tower over the injured blonde, "I don't ever wanna see that again… My trusted comrades, falling right in front of me…"

Naruto's eyes widened, "Your comrades?"

The twelve-year-old Jinchuuriki watched as an innocent young Hinata was carried away in a stretcher, blood still running from her body. He knelt onto the tiled floor to drag a handful of her blood and grit his teeth. Naruto reared to face Neji man-to-man with fist extended, "Hinata… I give you my word… I vow to win."

Sakura almost doubled over in pain as tears cascaded down her cheeks, she wrapped her fingers around her shoulders in some sort of self-hug to try and soften the pain, to no effect, "Naruto. This is a once in a lifetime request… Oh, please… please bring Sasuke back to me…"

"You care Sasuke so much. And I know what you're going through right now… so Sakura… I swear I'll bring Sasuke back… I _promise_ that on my life!"

"Sakura, I'll keep my promise to you," Naruto said, covered head-to-toe in bandages, after waking up from a battle most shinobi would have been lucky to survive, "I never go back on my word. That's my Ninja Way!"

"There's too much hate in our ninja world."

"And each and every one of us battles that hatred."

"But still…" Naruto opened his eyes to the sight of his mentor and his father, two legendary shinobi, standing before him in a world of white and blue. Jiraiya looked down at him with arms folded, "I truly believe that the day will come when all people will live together in harmony."

Minato strolled over to his son to place his hand on Naruto's much shorter blonde hair, "Naruto… I believe in you completely…"

The world turned to white as a seven-foot-tall Titan stood in the distance. Thanos slowly raised his left hand to expose the Infinity Gauntlet. He scrunched his fist, lighting the Stones up, "Looking for these?"

Hundreds of billions of faces appeared behind him as the seven Infinity Stones illuminated the space as one. Naruto gritted his teeth, tightened his headband and began walking forward before something Sasuke said during their first clash in the Valley of the End echoed through his mindscape.

"It's time… it's time to end this. To end this fight… And all the fights we've had up to now!"

The blue energy dissipated. Revealing a new planet, parallel in appearance to an earthly farmland. Naruto activated Sage Mode. There he was. Time to end this.

He vanished.

"Thanos!" in an instant, Naruto was hovering over the purple behemoth with a Rasengan in his right hand. Space and time crackled as he pulled the attack back. Thanos closed his fists.

Naruto was blown away. He crashed into a tree.

"Huh?" the giant man looked around. He was wearing nothing but loose green rags tied together by a purple robe around his waist. The Titan stared at the blonde in the distance. He held his left hand out, "Wait… Naruto…"

The sound barrier shattered. Superman cut through the tall golden fields like molten metal through ice. Mid-air, a staff intercepted him, electrocuting him to disrupt his flight path. He crashed.

"Wait, wait, everyone, wait!" Thanos pleaded.

A smoke bomb went off. His right arm was held down by a grappling hook. A red device flew from the smoke to keep his left hand open. Goku soared through the cloud to drop kick Thanos. Sending him into the terrain.

Someone grabbed the back of Goku's Gi to slam the back of his neck into the dirt. Sasuke paused right in front of the giant to barely dodge a knife to the face. The Uchiha stared into Gamora's malicious eyes, "The man said wait!"

"And who the hell are you?"

Thanos crushed Iron Man's device with his right hand before using his left hand to untangle the Batman's grappling hook. The Titan reared to stand over everyone surrounding him. Ten angry warriors glared him down. He had to choose his next words carefully, "I know why you're here."

"But I'm guessing you're not just gonna give them to us," Captain America said.

Thanos lifted his naked left hand, "They're not even in my possession anymore."

"That doesn't excuse the fact that you murdered my son," Vegeta said.

"Believe me, if I could I would bring him back… I would bring back everyone I took from you," Thanos pleaded.

"But?" Sasuke squinted.

"But he has them now, and there's nothing I can do to get them back."

Thor gripped his axe, "Who's he?"

"He? He's the beginning and the end… he's where the universes meet and reality fails to comprehend itself… he is entropy… he is death… he is… he's…" Thanos' eyes widened, "Watch out!"

Flaming blue swords cut through the centre of the group to separate them into four. The light blue inferno continued to burn as the swords receded. Naruto followed them all the way back to their source before realising who it was. "Madara?"

"How would you grade my entrance, on a scale from one to ten?"

Doomsday came crashing onto the planet. Frieza levitated closer to the ground behind the group, "My, my, aren't you one for theatrics," Ultron landed on the battlefield.

"Isn't he supposed to be dead?" Sasuke asked.

"Same goes for our guy," Iron Man said.

"We're three for three here," Vegeta said.

"Yeah, but it's Frieza, he's no stranger to resurrections," Goku shrugged.

"When did you learn the word resurrection?" Vegeta asked.

"Oh come on, Vegeta, no need to put me down in front of everyone else."

"It doesn't matter," Superman lifted himself off the earth, "If we've beaten them before, I'm sure we can beat them again."

"Not so fast," Frieza warned, "Before you rush in without thinking I feel it's appropriate that we warn you of our boost in power, so you'll find things might not be as simple as they seem," he burst into a laughing fit.

"I'll have to test that for myself!" Goku exploded. A backhand. He was gone. Vegeta's eyes enlarged.

Goku flew in from the left, Frieza almost decapitated him with a clothesline, "Kakarot!"

Iron Man slowly turned to face Ultron, "shit."

"Allow me then to just step out of the way," Thanos smirked.

"No, no, no, Mr Thanos, we're here for you too… and the girl," Ultron shrugged.

"But I gave him everything."

"But I gave him everything – shut up and dance!" Madara charged. Sasuke activated his Rinnegan. Amenotejikara. Naruto and Sasuke's sword swapped. Madara barely dodged the blade.

"Thanks," Naruto burst into Kyuubi Chakra Mode.

"No time to thank him, only time to dance!"

Sasuke and Madara started weaving hand signs.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Collision. Naruto's turn. Madara activated his Sharingan. Him and Naruto traded blows. He threw Naruto away to deal with Sasuke.

"Genjutsu: Sharingan!"

"Wrong!" Madara broke it. Grabbing Sasuke's leg to toss him into Naruto. Naruto tossed him back at Madara.

"Amaterasu!"

"Susanoo!"

"Don't you ever throw me again!" Sasuke groaned only for Naruto to grin back at him.

Naruto and Sasuke swapped places, "Rasengan!" Madara was already on his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. Susanoo's torso shattered. Sasuke grabbed his sword. The Rasengan was still coming.

"Shinra Tensei," Naruto was blown sky high.

"Chidori Blade!" Madara clapped both hands around the blade and skidded across the dirt.

He transformed again in rapid succession. A robe. Nine Truth-Seeking Orbs. A staff. A Rinne-Sharingan. Madara kicked Sasuke off to start floating. He swung the staff around his body to deflect Naruto's attack from above. The Jinchuuriki landed.

Naruto barely dodged Batman as he was flung across the battlefield by what looked like a steroid-injected demonic entity. Superman deadlifted the beast only for it to drop onto the superhero and have horrific spikes extend from its back, in time to cut Wonder Woman. He was glad he wasn't facing that monstrosity. Madara let out a chakra surge, "Come."

Nine Truth-Seeking Orbs formed behind the Uzumaki. His face lost its chakra-engulfed gold and returned to its normal skin colour. The Uzumaki used one of the Truth-Seeking Orbs to create a staff, "Okay then, here we come, dattebayo!"

"Yeah," Sasuke unclipped his robe.

Lightning met Bijuu chakra. They circled around the Uchiha.

Limbo. Naruto sensed it. Sasuke saw it. Both shinobi climbed over the limbo clones to strike. Madara dashed away. They gave chase. He circled around Gamora. They followed. Past Vegeta and Frieza. All three dodged the ki blasts flying overhead and escaped through a smoke screen to see Ultron, bathed in golden lights holding his own against the Avengers. Naruto tripped over a trap Ultron had laid for his opponents. It exploded in his face. Madara hopped through Doomsday's spiky back. Sasuke tried the same but got caught. He rolled over to a recovering Batman's feet. Madara stopped when he realised he wasn't being chased anymore, "Don't you dare display weakness in my presence."

"Chidori Laser Spear," Madara formed the Susanoo wall to save himself.

Naruto shook himself to regain consciousness and awareness. He turned to his left to see Goku stretching his limbs. The future Hokage paused, "What are you doing?"

"I'm getting warmed up, Frieza looks like he's gotten a lot tougher since the last time we fought. He even managed to surpass his golden form and has unlocked some kind of diamond stage. The guy's giving Vegeta the fight of his life," the Saiyan explained.

Naruto looked up at the intense battle between a blue-haired Vegeta and what looked like a diamond-encrusted Frieza, "You're not gonna help him, dattebayo?" he asked as Vegeta was clattered through a mountain.

Goku folded his legs to take a seat, "Nah, fighting Frieza two-on-one would just be unfair, plus Vegeta won our game of rock-paper-scissors."

Vegeta rocketed back to punch the shiny alien, their ki exploded in a mid-air collision. Naruto turned to Sasuke who was trying to dart around Madara in an attempt to find a weak spot in his Susanoo walls, "Good luck with that…" he shrugged.

"Amaterasu!"

"Not quite."

"Chidori Senbon!"

"Nope."

"Gotcha!" two hands wrapped around Madara's ankles.

"Of all jutsu!"

Sasuke broke through the walls. Madara grabbed a Truth-Seeking Ball to form a jet-black sword. Naruto yanked him under the earth. Madara crushed the Jinchuuriki in black flames, turning him to smoke.

"Up here!" he knocked him senseless with a Naruto Uzumaki Barrage kick. The Uchiha groaned as the duo slid away, "Heh, I'll admit Madara, when you said you'd been boosted up I started to sweat a bit, but now I see that even when boosted I'm still stronger than you, dattebayo."

"You? Stronger than me? You're neither Uchiha nor Senju, don't make me laugh," the legendary Uchiha ripped himself out of the earth to stare the two of them down, "You want to see my new power?" he clasped his hands together before closing his eyes shut. He inhaled deeply to release another chakra surge. He exhaled with eyes open, "Prepare yourselves."

Sasuke was the first to back up at the sight of it, "You have my brother's eyes?"

"Is that bad?" Naruto asked. Madara turned to the Uzumaki.

"Naruto, keep your eyes closed," Sasuke demanded.

Naruto chuckled at the thought, "Genjutsu: Sharingan? Come on, Sasuke, Kurama could just break me out of it any time."

"We're not just talking Genjutsu: Sharingan, we're talking Tsukuyomi."

"Tsukuyomi? What's the difference?" Naruto turned to Madara.

"Exactly, Naruto, what's the difference? Kurama could, could, just, just, break, break, you, you, out, out," Madara smirked. Was he hearing double or was Madara suddenly have a stutter? The Jinchuuriki shook his head to try and get Madara's voice out. Wait? Was he in the genjutsu? Naruto's feet sunk into the earth. The more he fought, the faster he sunk. Earth turned to black muck as he drowned in his own fears. The world was dyed in blood. The Uzumaki looked up, already shoulders-deep in darkness. The moon caught alight, growing bigger and bigger. There was nothing he could do. Nothing but scream.

"Kurama? Kurama!"

The blonde collapsed.

"Yes, Naruto, Tsukuyomi," Madara confirmed.

"_**Sorry Kit, that whole encounter happened in less than a second."**_

"_It's cool,"_ he thought, every muscle in his body had already given up on him.

"Damn it," Sasuke rushed to the blonde's side, "I told you to close your eyes, usuratonkachi!"

"Hehe, wouldn't be the first time I didn't listen to something you said, Sasuke-teme."

"Heads up!" Iron Man yelled as Ultron took control of his armour, forcing him to deploy missiles at random, "FRIDAY, you're making us look bad in front of the other universes," Tony muttered as the suit spun uncontrollably.

"Trying to regain control, sir."

"Okay, take your time."

Sasuke picked Naruto's limp body up to dart away from an oncoming missile. The earth erupted behind them. A missile lifted Doomsday into the air. Superman grabbed one and tossed it over to Frieza. It lifted him too. Madara created a Susanoo torso to survive the three missiles approaching. Goku deflected two. Vegeta did the same with one. Batman flung a pair of devices to deactivate them mid-air. Wonder Woman deflected the four that came her way via her bracelets. Ultron watched as Iron Man lost control. Captain America charged him.

"Are you done taking out half our team?" Madara asked with arms folded.

"Our team is expendable," Ultron said grabbing Captain America's head and bashing it against a rock.

"Don't say something I can use against you later," Madara warned.

Thanos shoulder-charged the automaton, clad in full golden armour. Ultron slid on the dirt. Iron Man regained control of his suit, "Destroy him on a molecular level… please!" Dual repulsor beams to the back did nothing but slow the android down. A unibeam to the face bounced Ultron off the ground into Thanos' arms who slammed him into the earth.

"Are you good?" Madara asked. Sasuke stabbed a hole in his Susanoo, "Hey!" he grabbed his fellow kinsman to fling him into the dirt. His Mangekyou Sharingan morphed into Obito's. Space-time distorted around the hobo.

Naruto decked him.

Madara formed a light blue Susanoo around his frame to protect him, "Kamui Shuriken!" the demonic figure grabbed six Mangekyou Sharingan style shuriken and threw them at the blonde.

Naruto casually created a Kurama head to protect him. The massive shuriken bounced off the creature, reverting to nothingness as they hit the earth around him, "Time to put an end to this," he said raising his right hand.

A warm orange energy drenched the entire battlefield in a soft lukewarm glow. Madara switched to the Rinnegan, "Not this again," he flew away. Chakra, lava and finally steam, rotated over the Jinchuuriki's palm, radiating such intense heat that even Madara had to step away to breathe.

"Sage Art: Lava Style Rasenshuriken!" the blonde threw it at him. As soon as it left his hand it started expanding. Naruto stood there and watched the massive orb of destruction hunt down its floating target.

"Damn it!" Madara was torn in half, the lava continued to do damage as Naruto turned to the other battles.

"You wouldn't mind throwing one of those this way, would you?" the Batman wondered as Doomsday landed on the battlefield, nowhere near full strength anymore.

"Kurama."

"**Of course."**

Kurama's head formed around the future Hokage's body. He grabbed one Truth-Seeking Ball and, with Kurama's aid, converted it to a Tailed Beast Ball, "Sage Art: Tailed Beast Bomb Rasenshuriken!" the jutsu whirled to life.

Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman leapt back as it spun around them to smash into the monstrosity, cutting him apart, cell-by-cell. Nothing remained but ashes. The spherical explosion lifted into the atmosphere before expanding to disintegrate the beast. The Amazon woman was the first to speak up, "You've been holding out on us, Uzumaki."

"Not done," Naruto noted. Kurama was all too happy to flex his near-endless reserves of strength, chakra and endurance, "Sage Art: Blue Fire Style Rasenshuriken!" Naruto popped out another.

Frieza smirked, "That won't work on…" Vegeta was already in front of him. A gut punch disorientated the shiny alien, he quickly took to the skies, the Rasenshuriken whistled up with him. Frieza was trapped.

"Inferno Style: Susanoo Flame Control!" he was stuck between a rock and a hot place.

Together, Naruto and Sasuke announced, "Scorch Style: Nimbus Gale Jet Black Arrow Formation: Zero!" Frieza caught fire. The black flames of Inferno Style took over from there. Forever burning, for seven days and seven nights until the target was nothing but dust.

Vegeta simply folded his arms with eyes closed, "So quickly? I never expected you of all people to take the fun out of a good fight," he moaned as his hair reverted back from its glossy blue, to its normal shade of black.

"We've got two more. Ultron, and finally, you, Thanos," Naruto lifted his right hand. Sasuke prepared another Inferno Style: Susanoo Flame Control Arrow. A legless Madara snatched Naruto's arm and drove it into the dirt. The Rasenshuriken became unstable. Exploding instantly. Madara floated away. His lower half flew to his side. Hashirama's cells stitched them together, "I thought I killed you."

"You underestimate the power of the Truth-Seeking Orbs," Madara smirked.

Wait.

Susanoo Flame Control dematerialised. Sasuke's Susanoo dissipated. Kurama's head faded around Naruto's figure. They both glanced at each other before returning to Madara. A terrifying grin crept across his face when they noticed it. "Wait a minute," Naruto looked around, "Where are your Truth-Seeking Orbs?"

"You said you wanted to see my boosted powers, didn't you? I'm giving you a taste," Madara shrugged, "On another note, does anyone else hear rain?"

"What does he mean?" Superman wondered. Even Ultron had stopped at this point as the attention was diverted to Madara, "Naruto, what does he mean by that?"

"A water clone?" Sasuke asked. Naruto shook his head. He gradually lifted his chin to stare at the stars. A shadow consumed him. Sasuke's gaze followed, "What… what the actual fuck?" everyone's eyes turned to the heavens.

Finally, Madara tilted his neck to smirk at the skies overhead, "Oh no, a little too big for rain?"

"You'll destroy my entire planet," Thanos let go of the android. Ultron crawled away before standing upright.

"For someone who acts so tough, it's seems you've forgotten that you'll destroy yourself too," Ultron said.

"Oh no, I'm heading out now," Madara shrugged, "If you survive, send me a postcard."

"Have you forgotten you're being controlled?"

"No one controls Madara Uchiha," Madara crossed his arms, "Uzumaki boy, do me a favour, open your mouth."

"Open my mouth?" Naruto's face twisted. His cheeks puffed up, he grabbed his throat and doubled over in discomfort. A black crow fluttered its wings as Naruto regurgitated it. The crow cast Shisui's Kotoamatsukami on Madara relieving him of anyone else's control, "Not again," Naruto dry heaved.

"I learned that one from your brother," Madara allowed the bird to land on his forearm. His Truth-Seeking Orbs returned to him, "Now then… good luck," his eyes morphed into Obito's Mangekyou Sharingan. He slipped off into another dimension.

"Sasuke?" Naruto's vomiting concluded.

"We'll deal with him later," Sasuke turned to the heavens. Madara had used a mixture of his boosted abilities, Chibaku Tensei and the Truth-Seeking Balls to draw ten planetoids closer to Thanos' farm. The heavenly bodies accelerated, growing larger and closer; the warriors could see the cities, towns and people that were living on those planets as they approached.

"Well how will we deal with these, dattebayo?"

"Clark?" Batman asked.

"The most I could do is push one out of the way, but there'd still be nine planets flying at us."

"Same for me and Vegeta," Goku grunted.

"I think it's very simple, we should just accept death as it is," Ultron shrugged.

"Easy for you to say, you can be downloaded later into another body," Iron Man yelled.

"If we've got no other ideas, I'll get on to moving some of the other…" Superman vanished.

"Clark?" the Batman turned. Captain America followed. Gone in the blink of an eye. Sasuke disappeared. Then Goku. Then Wonder Woman. Then Vegeta, "What's going on?" the Batman vanished. Thanos and his daughter were nowhere to be seen. Naruto felt himself become effervescent.

"Is this Madara's work?" he opened his eyes to a dimly lit metallic area, hovering in the emptiest corners of space. The Jinchuuriki shifted sharply to see the other heroes around him, as well as billions of stars floating in a never-ending vacuum of darkness. Where was he? Sage of Six Paths Mode faded away, leaving Naruto standing in his normal attire and only Sage Mode still active.

"No, no this is not Madara's work," heavy footsteps echoed through the eerie veil of death. From one of the hallways up ahead, a hulking behemoth, size on par with Thanos, appeared, "… but if I knew he'd pull a stunt like that, I wouldn't have revived him in the first place."

"Darkseid?" Superman whispered.

"So, you're the one who revived Doomsday?" Wonder Woman readied her blade, "You enjoy having others do your work for you?"

"Of course, if I did everything myself then… well, let's just say it'd all be too quick, too easy, see, it's the slow knife, the knife that takes its time, the knife that waits years without forgetting, then slips quietly between the bones, that's the knife, that cuts the deepest… isn't it, Bruce?"

"You know my name?" the Batman asked.

"I know all your names? After all, you're the only things standing between me and total control of the multiverse. Once I destroy you, then I can proceed with my plans."

"Really? You sent Frieza to try and destroy us?" Goku laughed.

"Yes, I thought they'd make the most of their boosted abilities, but it appeared only Madara managed that feat entirely and look how it backfired on me, you're all still alive."

"Your revived minions tried to kill me, Master," Thanos separated himself from the hero brigade, "They must have been mistaken, right?"

"No Dione, you've outlived your purpose."

"But you promised me."

"What a surprise, the epitome of hatred lied."

Thanos clenched his fists, "No one lies to me," he swung. Darkseid caught it.

"No Stones needed," Darkseid swung for his liver. Thanos took the hit and threw another. Darkseid dodged with hands behind his back to kick Dione over. Thanos rose to his feet and bear hugged Darkseid. Darkseid's Omega Beams calmly sliced Thanos' shoulders from their sockets.

"Dad!" Gamora ran in.

The beams sought her out and sliced her head clean off. Her body continued forward, allowing Darkseid to beat Thanos with his own daughter's corpse. Thanos kicked him off. Darkseid kept his hands behind his back. Eyes lit up.

"No!" Superman jumped in. Laser beams collided. Darkseid, hands still behind his back, changed the beams' trajectory to nail Clark in the back. Superman fell to his knees. Darkseid decapitated Thanos.

He grabbed the Titan's head and threw it at Naruto, "Tell her at least you brought back his head."

"You monster!" Vegeta went Super Saiyan.

"Such a primitive term for a God," Darkseid didn't even look at the Saiyan Prince. Vegeta flew in. Darkseid socked him, grabbed him by the legs, and spun him like a blonde Beyblade before tossing him into a wall.

"Vegeta!" Goku and Darkseid made eye contact. The Saiyan prepared an energy attack. The New God approached him, "Kaamee…" Darkseid wasn't fazed, "Haamee…" Darkseid was less than a foot away, "Haa!" he tanked the move to yank Goku's arm so hard, he dislocated it. Darkseid slammed the Saiyan onto the ship's metallic flooring.

Two devices landed on the God's chest. They exploded to cover him in foam, allowing Batman to swoop in and put some distance between Goku and the epitome of destruction. Darkseid used the Omega Beams to teleport the foam to Batman, trapping them instead.

"What can't those beams do?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Come here and find out."

"Inferno Style: Susanoo Flame Control!" Sasuke launched a forever-burning arrow at the God. He caught it with one hand before effortlessly dusting the flames away, "Impossible. Those flames are supposed to burn until there's nothing left but ashes."

"You want to talk about ashes?" the flames of hell burned from within Darkseid's eye sockets. Superman tackled the New God to save Sasuke's life. Darkseid picked Superman up and crushed his ankle like a pack of chips. Lightning struck the God to separate them. Goku picked the Kryptonian up to put some space between them like Batman had done to him.

"Cowardice, that's what we call what you're doing back on my planet," Superman roared as Goku leaned him against the wall.

"Excuse me?" Darkseid grabbed Thor to fling him into Naruto.

"You've weakened me, I felt it when I first got here. You breaking my bones so easily just verifies that."

"I felt it too," Goku tried sliding his shoulder back into its socket, "I've been trying to enter my Super Saiyan God form for a while now, but I can't quite reach the power level needed to do so. A fight is no fun if you're not being fair with it."

Darkseid returned his arms to their natural position, behind his back, and grinned, "Where do you think you are?"

Batman freed himself from his own foam, "Your ship?"

"You're in the neutral zone. This is what the new universe will be like when it is all over, who becomes stronger and who becomes weaker is out of my hands."

"But in our current state, we'll never be able to beat you," Goku said.

"Kakarot!" Vegeta barked, finally prying himself from the wall.

"He dislocated my shoulder, Vegeta, no one's ever been able to do that to me before. I'm sure you can see how hopeless this fight is too."

"Listen to Kakarot, Saiyan fool. For if you admit defeat now, and promise to spread the word of Anti-Life to your respective worlds, then I will allow you to live, and like Paul Revere, speed off to your worlds and announce the impending doom that is Darkseid."

"A Saiyan never admits defeat," the Saiyan Prince fell to one knee, but quickly rising to his quivering feet as Darkseid watched on, "What kind of Saiyan… what kind of father would I be if I was confronted by my own son's killer and I chose to walk away, return to earth with my tail stuffed between my legs? You have Gohan, you have Videl, you have Pan, you have something to go back to when this is all over, Kakarot. If I don't do this, I could never look Bulma in the eyes again. I must bring Trunks back."

Naruto squared up to Darkseid from behind, "For once, I can say I understand you, Vegeta. Darkseid, if you rip my arms out, I'll kick you to death. If you rip my legs off, I'll bite you to death. Rip my head off and I'll stare you to death. Gouge out my eyes and I'll curse you from the grave. No matter what happens today, I'm not going home until I bring them back. Shino, Kiba, Neji… Konohamaru. I made a promise, and I never go back on a promise."

"I mean… after we've put your worlds through so much," Captain America shot a glance at Tony before nodding. The billionaire playboy gave a sharp nod back, "the least we can do is fight by your side. No matter the outcome."

Tony stared at the monster standing before them, "Exactly… if we defeat you here, regardless of what remains. They'll be okay," he assured himself. His face plate slowly lowered to cover his face in darkness.

Superman levitated to accommodate his broken ankle, "You get the memo, Darkseid. There's only one way this ends… either you die or we do."

The Stones glued to the behemoth's chest illuminated the dimly lit arena, "If that's the case. I hope you appreciate that everything that happens from this point onwards… is on your heads. The skies of your respective worlds will rain fire, the oceans will boil, the streets will run red with the blood of billions, no, trillions. Only then, after your last pitiful hope is extinguished, after the people are done preaching the name, Darkseid, will I end your lives. Let's go."

All hell broke loose.

Superman, Wonder Woman and Thor were zapped out mid-flight. Darkseid grabbed Batman by the cape and swung him into Naruto. Sasuke stabbed Darkseid's shoulder only for him to pull it out and beat him with its hilt. Goku grabbed the God's waist, Vegeta laid into him.

**Power Stone**

They were blown away. Goku pressed his fingers against his forehead. Instant Transmission. The Omega Beams gave chase. Wherever he went, they were there, waiting for him, politely. Until they struck, knocking him down.

"The Omega Beams don't care where you teleport to, they seek out your soul, wherever it is in the universe and they'll hunt you down until they've-," Naruto slapped the back of Darkseid's head.

"Marked," Darkseid grabbed him by the face and destroyed the Jinchuuriki. Crushing him against the floor. He grabbed onto the monster's arm. Superman's eyes shone bright red.

The Omega Beams countered his heat vision. Superman flew back. Vegeta blasted Darkseid in the back with a Galick Gun. Darkseid approached. Big Bang Attack! Nothing. Final Flash, Vegeta cupped his hands in front of his chest only to be slapped silly by a backhand. He stopped to take a breath.

Darkseid's foot caught fire. The irreversible black flames of Amaterasu, "When will you realise that that doesn't work on me!" he punted the Uchiha, transferring the black flames. Sasuke removed his shirt in mid-air. The fabric continued to burn.

Missiles bombarded Darkseid's back. He fell to one knee before standing to kick Iron Man into the hardened glass. Four hands latched on to hold Darkseid down. Batman laid into him with each fist releasing sonar waves. The sound disorientated the brute.

**Time Stone**

Darkseid stopped time to see Stormbreaker less than an inch from his neck. He kicked Naruto's shadow clones off before tackling Batman to restart time. Stormbreaker cut through air over Darkseid's head. The New God carried the Batman several metres before dropping him onto the metallic floor, cracking his metal armour.

Naruto teleported, "Rasengan!" Darkseid took the hit and backed up.

"Instant Transmission Kamehameha!" Darkseid looked around. The energy blast came from behind, slapping him against a wall. The warriors approached full speed.

**Power Stone**

They stopped in their tracks.

**Reality Stone**

The metallic flooring came alive to entrap the warriors.

**Power Stone**

"Rasengan!" another Flying Raijin Level Two, Darkseid blocked it, grabbed Naruto's arm and snapped it in half. The blonde turned to clouds. Four more slid in from below. Kicking him up. Vegeta ploughed him through a wall. The Omega Beams roared to life.

Wonder Woman saved the Saiyan with her godly bracelets. Darkseid grabbed both of them by the face and threw them into the crowd. Another straight-line Omega Beam Blast. Batman used Wonder Woman's shield.

"Keep it up!" Naruto demanded. Three clones helped him form the Sage Art: Wind Style Rasenshuriken, "Everyone duck!" he tossed it. The Omega Beams chased it. They caught it mid-air to deflect it.

Darkseid turned to stare into Goku's eyes. He reached out to grab the Saiyan. Sasuke's Rinnegan lost three tomoe. Goku was replaced by a Rasenshuriken. Darkseid was already reaching out. It tore at his body on a cellular level but he caught it still and tossed it aside.

"No slowing down!" Superman burst into action. Darkseid went to punch him in the throat. His hand exploded with Amaterasu. Superman nailed him. A stagger.

Sasuke covered left eye and screamed. The jet-black flames were hungry and Darkseid was their buffet. The emo Uchiha cried blood as the flames ran rampant. An explosion and Darkseid was engulfed.

He stopped, dropped and rolled to try and extinguish them. Sasuke collapsed from chakra loss. Naruto caught him and stared at the big blue beast, "This is it… please, Kurama!"

"**I'm trying!"** chakra gathered over Naruto's palm as Darkseid began to roll away from the eternal flames. Rotation. Power. Concentration. **"Wherever we are, it's made it almost impossible to send you chakra. **This is all I can give you!"

"Rasengan!" Naruto announced. Kurama's last surge of chakra took over. He raised his right hand over his frame. The arena shuddered, "Sage Art: Wind Style Rasenshuriken," more, he needed more. Hellfire ensued, "Sage Art: Lava Style Rasenshuriken! Get down!" he threw it. Darkseid stared at the spiralling ninja star as it engorged, tearing through metallic structures, melting them as it rose in volume.

**Power Stone**

**Reality Stone**

**Soul Stone**

"Enough! Enough of this!" Darkseid turned the lava to bats before spinning them to face the warriors. They reverted to lava as the Stones lost their shine, "No more, now I crush your hope! Now I end this!"

"So do we!" Superman darted. Darkseid demolished his face. Clark clutched it, hitting the floor. Goku teleported in front of Darkseid only to get a knee in the gut. His hair fell back to black after taking the hit. Clark stood up. Darkseid dodged both of their hits before knocking them both out.

Wonder Woman broke her blade over Darkseid's back. His Omega Beams knocked her out. He grabbed her by the hair to smash her face repeatedly against a wall.

"Final Flash!" if Vegeta hadn't announced the technique's name, Darkseid wouldn't have even known he'd been hit by it. The New God crushed Diana's torso before walking over to the Saiyan Prince. Captain America stepped in to unload on the New God.

A pair of Omega Beams to the spine almost killed the true American. Darkseid picked his limp body up to fling it at an unconscious Sasuke. Darkseid stood over Vegeta. Goku held him in a headlock. Darkseid snapped his elbow backwards. Goku cried in agony. Darkseid beat Vegeta upside the head with the wounded Saiyan.

"Naruto!" four shadow clones slid in from below.

**Soul Stone**

They all vanished. The real Naruto came flying in. Darkseid slammed him against the wall. Naruto grabbed his face and clawed at it. Darkseid slammed him again. Naruto kicked at the New God regardless. Darkseid banged him upside the wall with enough force to dent it. The Jinchuuriki glared at the God. Darkseid smashed him through the metallic wall, leaving him a mess on the other side, "Fuck you, dattebayo," he groaned, in too much physical pain to move.

Lightning struck the God's back. Darkseid growled. More lightning. Thor approached, shooting bolts of magical lightning at the New God.

**Reality Stone**

The lightning turned to cardboard lightning bolts that struck the New God, and instead of travelling through his body in an excruciating fashion, bounced off his frame and landed behind him. Darkseid grabbed Thor's face and slammed him into the floor. The cardboard lightning exploded behind him as the crimson Stone dissipated.

"You fought hard, Lightning God, but your efforts pale in comparison to an Infinity Stone-fuelled, Anti-Life Equation-powered New God," four explosions to the back irritated Darkseid more than they did damage him. The last two men standing were Iron man and the Batman, "In a room full of superhumans, the last two remaining are as human as they come."

"You realise there's no way we're walking out of this, right?" Tony chuckled.

"You'd be surprised how many times I heard that exact phrase," Batman pulled out a batarang.

**Space Stone**

Batman got decked. He hit the floor not knowing where he was. Darkseid crushed him under his boot, "Maggot!"

Darkseid took a unibeam to the shoulder. He stumbled back, only to grab Iron Man by the chest and rip his face plate off. The nanobots quickly regenerated it. Darkseid let them, just so he could rip it off again. He hammered into the billionaire's face.

Captain America dropkicked him into the hardened glass, "I thought I killed you."

Steve shook his head, blood dripping from every orifice, "Hell no, I could do this all day," a pair of Omega Beams. They shattered his gauntlet shields, sending him flying.

"I'm sure you could've." Sasuke grabbed Darkseid's boot. He used the towering presence's frame to lift him to his feet. The only way he could stand was by trying to wrap his arms around the behemoth. "… And you… you've run out of chakra, you're no threat anymore."

"You'd… you'd be surprised what I could do with no chakra," Sasuke summoned a giant snake to swallow the New God. At that point, Darkseid felt his body. Paper Bombs. Genjutsu: Sharingan. He reverse-summoned the creature. He collapsed, "We need… we need to get out."

**Space Stone**

"You runt!" Darkseid punted Sasuke's skull, his armour now damaged and covered in corrosive acid. Sasuke wasn't moving.

"I told you I'd let you all live, now that you're all on the verge of death… I believe it's about _time_ that I sent you back to your universes…"

"No," Naruto grabbed a handful of cement. He threw at the New God, it bounced off the glass behind him, "I refuse to lose to you this easily. I'd rather die than go back to Konoha without my friends. I made a promise… I…" Naruto was back to his feet.

"And as future Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, you never go back on your word, yadayada, you don't understand how many times I've heard this. I admire your will to fight. No really, I do… in fact, I'll reward you. I'll bring back the people I killed, after all, I have what I wanted," Darkseid handed the blonde Thanos' head, "But when they start popping back into reality, just know that it'll be too late. Darkseid is coming."

**Power Stone**

**Space Stone**

**Reality Stone**

**Soul Stone**

**Time Stone**

**Mind Stone**

**Dimensional Stone**

**.**

Naruto became a meteor, accelerating back to his home world. As he re-entered the atmosphere, he and Sasuke began to separate. They landed miles apart. Sasuke in the Hidden Sand Village, crashing into the Kazekage's Manor with almost no chakra flowing through his pathways.

The redhead jumped to his feet, rushed around his desk and quickly placed his hand on the Uchiha's bare chest. "Is it really you?" Gaara mumbled. The emo slapped his hand away.

"Naruto? Where's Naruto?" he failed to stand up.

"It is, Sasuke, where have you been?"

"Where have I been? I've been fighting Thanos and then… fucking whatever his name was," he collapsed, "Oh Kami, he's dead. Thanos is dead, but we're… not done. Get me a medic."

"Don't worry about Thanos right now, we have bigger issues to worry about at the moment."

"Did you say bigger problems? Do you see the state I am in… get me a medic!"

"Sasuke, you've been gone for three months…"

Sasuke clutched Gaara's scarf and yanked the Kazekage closer, "Medic," he passed out.

**.**

Naruto on the other hand, didn't have the luxury of crashing into a densely populated Ninja Village like Sasuke. He'd broken through a wooden roof, plummeted through about fifty feet of darkness before smashing through a concrete tablet and lying there, almost lifeless. The Uzumaki had been stripped of hope, with only a purple head to keep him company.

Everything hurt. He had no chakra. And only the spotlight of a setting sun shining through his hole in the wall, lit his way. He was alone. Again.

"Help," Naruto groaned. Usually, he'd be able to rip through the concrete slab like a hot knife through butter, but today wasn't the day. With hard cement beneath him and a thick slab of concrete holding him down, there was nothing he could do to fight, Naruto had to hope and cry out, "Please! I'm in here! Down here! Please! It's me, Naruto Uzumaki! I can't!" he tried to push the slab off. His body felt so human, "I can't… I can't breathe!"

Silence.

There he was, at the ripe age of twenty, fighting for his life. Again. A pool of blood had gathered underneath him. His body was so numb, he couldn't even guess where that blood was trickling out from. His hand, couldn't even ball a fist. Where his legs even connected to his torso? This was too much to think about. He just needed some sleep. A touch of shut-eye, he'd deal with all these problems if he woke up.

The patter of bare feet. Naruto clawed to life, "In here! It's me! Help!" he cried out. There was no response, just the pitter-patter of small feet on the concrete floor. Naruto didn't even have the neck muscles to look up as the snow-white feet stopped in front of him. He reached out to brush the heavenly appendages, "Help," he pleaded.

He finally got that bit of sleep he desired so much.

**.**


	5. Revival

**I'll start off by responding to GamerX568's reviews. I'm not really sure what you mean by Naruto being distracted against Thanos, the only people he was distracted by where Gamora (who was defending Thanos) and Madara (who was revived by Darkseid). Darkseid had given a boost to all the people he'd revived in order to give them an edge over their opponents. The boost he'd given to Madara was the ability to use the Mangekyou Sharingan of the deceased Uchiha, he also gave Frieza an extra form and Ultron the ability to take over nearby technology, which was why Iron Man lost control. For the Homecoming part, I'm guessing you're talking about Naruto being trapped under building. I'll say that some of the story is obviously inspired by pieces of Marvel, DC and the Narutoverse, for example Justice League War, Dark and Unlimited, for some understanding of Darkseid, but I think saying I directly copied something is a bit of a stretch considering in one scene Peter Parker gets crushed by a building falling on him and saves himself and in another, Naruto falls from space and crashes into an ancient ruin and has to be saved by someone else. So, I think specifically because they both get trapped under something doesn't mean I copied it. For the Bruce Banner part, I legitimately had no idea what you were talking about until I thought maybe you mean the Sasuke scene where he warns Gaara about Darkseid. If that's the case then you're talking about a very popular trope, I mean, look up 'Harbinger of Impending Doom' on TV Tropes and you'll see many writers use it, even Stephen King uses it in 'The Mist', and Infinity War uses it twice, once with Bruce Banner and again with Thor, so I understand that you're probably like a diehard MCU fan but tropes have existed long before the MCU and they will continue to exist long after it.**

**In response to the guest from the last response, as I said I'm open to constructive criticism so if you have any ideas on how to improve the structure and make it less troublesome in your opinion, I'm all ears.**

**And thank you to Issexwithyourcloneincest, and although a pairing hasn't been established yet, I'm not saying there won't be one, but it'll be sidelined for majority of the fic with preparations and ass-kicking taking up the spotlight. I'd also like to say it doesn't mean I'll ignore all the pairing suggestions. I enjoy reading some of the pairing ideas and how to incorporate them into the flow of the story.**

**Once again, I'll probably wait until a few more chapters to answer reviews but I'm hoping you **

**.**

**Darkseid of the Moon**

**CHAPTER 5**

**Revival**

**.**

In the emptiest corners of the newfound neutral zone, the veil separating it from specific sectors of the multiverse shattered spectacularly, drawing in the fourth celestial system. Bit by bit, the fourth universe was pulled into Darkseid's new world where he was god, almighty and outright.

**.**

"Sasuke Uchiha," the exhausted shinobi slowly turned to face the redhead. Sasuke was covered from head-to-toe in bandages and connected to a drip that continued to pump his body full of chakra. He was nowhere near full strength, but it at least now he could feel his body, curl his toes, wiggle his fingers. What Darkseid had done to him back there, he'd never experienced anything like it. Hopefully Naruto had landed back in the Hidden Leaf Village, someone needed to warn Kakashi about the impending doom that was Darkseid.

"You said… that I've been gone for three months?" Gaara nodded with arms still folded over his chest, "I missed the birth of my daughter?"

"Yes, and of Hinata's daughter, and Temari's son and Karui's daughter."

"I don't care about Hinata or Temari or the other one," Sasuke groaned, trying to push himself off the bed. He yanked the chakra drip from his wrist to sit up on the plain white bed and stare into the redhead's light green eyes, "I need to see Sarada."

"That can't be arranged at the moment."

Sasuke rose to his feet, fighting vigorously against the agony coursing through his nervous system. On a good day, at full strength it would've taken him about two and half days to get to Konoha from Suna, who knew how long it would take him in this condition, "There's nothing you can do to stop me, where are my clothes?"

"You mean the rags that remained of your pants? They were destroyed. Your sword is still in my office and my assistant is gone to get you new clothes. In the meantime, sit down and listen to me."

"I have nothing to listen to, shit…" Sasuke's legs gave up first. He dropped onto the bed and hit his head on the wall behind him.

"Even if I wanted to let you go I couldn't, Suna is under siege at the moment."

"Under siege, you're the Kazekage, who on earth would hold you under siege?"

"Terrorists, we think, we're still not sure what village they're from… the world has been turning on itself basically while you were out fighting space monsters."

"Space monsters? Darkseid… I wonder where the three months went. Was it when we were on Thanos' farm, or in the neutral zone? Either way, point me to these terrorists and let me cut them down."

"No, no, we're not killing any terrorists, if we find out they're from the wrong village, we could start a full-blown war," Gaara warned.

"Darkseid is war. A war we can't fight if we let start. All the universes are coming together in this weird neutral zone and in that neutral zone everyone is much weaker than they are now. My Rinnegan, could barely use it; Naruto's Sage of Six Paths Mode, he couldn't enter it; Superman, Goku, Vegeta, Wonder Woman, they all complained about being weaker than they usually would be. The only way we can defeat him is if we do it quickly or we bring him into our universe… but if we bring him into our universe and he's still strong then he'll kill us all in a matter of minutes."

"I understand how you feel, we both fought Thanos together, but you need to consider the politics of the situation."

"This monster killed Thanos! What we couldn't do as a team, he did in a matter of minutes! Which is why I say point me to the terrorists, I'm no politician, I see the enemy, I kill the enemy, you can tell the other villages there was nothing you could do to stop me."

**.**

"Sasuke," Naruto sat up. The young Uzumaki was still shrouded in darkness, but at least he had a little candle flickering at his bedside. Where was he? The Jinchuuriki slowly balled his fist then extended his fingers, it would have been a lot easier without the heavy bandages around his hands but at least he could feel again. Surprisingly, there was no pain, no crackling of bones as he shifted, no more agony, he felt like could go another round or two, maybe even a hundred, "Am I dead?"

"No," the pitter-patter of little feet again, "You're just chocked-full of chakra pills and morphine," that voice. Naruto squinted into the darkness. Where had he heard that voice before? It sounded so timid, yet with a commanding undertone, who was the owner of such a familiar, soft and pleasant voice?

Why was it so motherly? Motherly? Mother, "Kaguya Otsutsuki?" Naruto asked.

The Rabbit Goddess stepped out of the shadows to place a candle on the Uzumaki's bedside table, "The chakra ration pills have given you a bit of your chakra back, but the morphine will probably wear off in a few minutes," she used the dying embers of the first candle to ignite the wick of the second, "… and I go by just Kaguya now," the white-haired princess snuffed out the flickering candle's light.

Once again, Naruto was frozen in Kaguya's presence, but this time, not by her immense chakra but by her immense hospitality. She seemed so different. She wasn't wearing her flowing white dress, was without her iconic rabbit-ear-style horns and had snipped the ends of her hair to about waist-length. Seeing Kaguya in casual clothing was like getting a hug from Madara or a kiss on the cheek from Pain, the mind couldn't comprehend such normalcy from such evil, "How are you alive?"

"Ten months ago, when the moon came down on your world, I was released from the seal you'd placed on me. I made sure to escape before anyone could see me," Kaguya explained, cleaning up the cups and bowls around the blonde.

"And you don't hate my guts for sealing you for so many years… wait, ten months, no way, it's only been about six or seven…"

"I have spent the last ten months forgiving you, you and your team of shinobi. I know now that you were just trying to protect your way of the shinobi… and yes, Naruto, it's been a ten-month-long recovery period, I've kept track of every passing day," Kaguya disappeared momentarily, "Tea?" her voice rang out from within.

"I don't have time for… tea," Naruto forced himself to his feet, "Thank you for the hospitality, dattebayo, but I need to head home now."

"Not yet."

"Not yet?"

After having Kaguya guide him to the surface, Naruto was exposed to his first ray of proper earthly sunlight in three months. The Jinchuuriki cupped his hand over his face to shield his constricted pupils from the sudden light intake. The air felt so fresh compared to Thanos' farm and Darkseid's ship. He could feel it filling the inner corners of his lungs as he inhaled, "Where are we?" he had to ask.

"I call it Asura's Rest," Naruto finally glanced down at the land below. A wasteland bordered by a budding civilisation, "It's very faint but I can feel my grandson's energy in this place, I'm guessing this is where he came to rest… this is the birthplace of the Senju and the Uzumaki."

"I thought the Senju Clan came from the Land of Fire," Naruto said standing atop the grassy hillside.

"The Senju wandered into the Land of Fire and the Uzumaki remained at their base. This landmass used to be connected to the Land of Fire, but it broke off during the Warring States Period… and unfortunately a few years before your birth, Naruto, this place was destroyed, killing off every Uzumaki that remained."

Naruto glanced at the shorter woman, "Home of the Uzumaki Clan? For someone who was trapped in a moon for a thousand years, you seem to know a lot about your sons and grandsons."

"Black Zetsu was my will, he lived on this world for a thousand years gathering knowledge of the earth and of what happened to my bloodline. When I was revived all that he learned was transferred to me…"

Naruto got a good look at the Otsutsuki woman. This moment was surreal. This woman was Kaguya Otsutsuki, the most powerful being in the world. In her arsenal, she had the All-Killing Ash Bones, a certain-kill technique that turned you to dust upon penetration; she had the ability to slip into a different dimension entirely, create her own dimensions and destroy them in a split second; her Expansive Truth-Seeking Orb meant the destruction of one universe and the creation of another; she made Naruto's near infinite chakra reserves look like a kiddie pool compared to her oceans of stamina and chakra; if she wanted to, she could have snuffed the Jinchuuriki out like that candle in an instant and the Tale of the Gallant Naruto would be over. But here she was, no Rinne-Sharingan, casual robes and shorter hair, she was… human.

"So, what are _you_ doing here?" Naruto wondered.

"I figured there was nowhere else to go, I might as well come here. I found these people trying to rebuild their village from scratch, so I thought I'd help out. Every now and then I help by sailing over to a small town nearby for supplies."

"It looks like a lot of rebuilding to do," Naruto noted.

"According to Orochimaru's notes, Uzushio used to be such a vibrant place before they destroyed it…"

"Uzushio?" Naruto spun on his heels to see where that voice was coming from, "Karin?"

The redhead woman adjusted her glasses, "It's Karin Uzumaki now."

Naruto deadpanned, "You can't just steal my clan's name, that's not how it works, dattebayo."

Karin's shoulders dropped, "Naruto… I have red hair, incredible endurance and can heal very quickly."

The Jinchuuriki shrugged, "Good for you?"

"I'm an Uzumaki too!"

"Huh! No way! I could never imagine myself being related to someone as loud and obnoxious as you!"

"Look at the pot calling the kettle black!"

"Pot! Kettle! Now look, you made me hungry!"

"You almost died! Kaguya-Sama and I found you with almost every bone in your body broken, your insides were like a jigsaw puzzle! How do you have time to be hungry! More importantly, how are you even moving right now!"

"Enough!" Kaguya silenced the duo, "You're acting like a bunch of children… Naruto, Karin is the leader of the New Age of Uzushio."

"New Age of Uzushio, how come I never heard of this new age?"

"Kaguya-Sama and I have been trying to keep it under wraps for the last few months. The Hidden Villages are on the verge of war, if they find out the Eddies Village and its Uzumaki Clan are back, they'll wipe us all off the face of the earth again."

"The Hidden Leaf, I need to get back to them," Naruto remembered.

"Wait, Naruto, you can't leave," Kaguya stopped him.

Karin chuckled, "Yeah, I don't think you even know which direction the Hidden Leaf is in."

"No, in more serious matters, I feel a descendant of Asura is a more appropriate candidate for co-leader of the New Age of Uzushio," Kaguya said.

Karin shook her head, "I don't need no co-leader!"

"Naruto Uzumaki is the saviour of the ninja world, with you as a face, it'll inspire more members of the Uzumaki Clan to return to their home."

"Why would they return to Uzushio, what if they're living much better lives where they are?" Naruto groaned.

"Even if, I can sense impending war. I know Asura would have wanted his people to be safe from the blood that will be spilt."

"You can sense Darkseid?"

"Darkseid?" Karin scratched her head.

"I don't know the war's name, but the Ten-Tails was born from bloodshed and war, and as such, can sense it from a mile away. It's coming and…" Naruto grabbed the lady's robes and held his face a few inches from hers.

"I need to know how to stop it, dattebayo."

"Naruto! Hands off her!" Karin warned.

"I don't know how."

"Come on! You're the mother of all chakra, every jutsu that ever was, is or will be flows through your pathways, you have to have a jutsu in your arsenal that can take him down… the All-Killing Ash Bones, please Kaguya, teach it to me."

"I cannot teach you the All-Killing Ash Bones, it's a Kekkei Mora, even more rare than a Kekkei Genkai or Tota. The only person who can possess it is a direct bloodline of mine."

"But you said the Uzumaki came from one of your grandsons," Naruto yelled.

"Direct bloodline! As in came out of my womb and only my womb," Kaguya spelled it out for him, she fixed her robes before explaining, "Even then the odds of them obtaining the All-Killing Ash Bones are one in a hundred, the only Kekkei Mora my children inherited from me were my Byakugan and Rinnegan."

"Then your dimension shifting, your Rabbit Hair Needles, Expansive Truth-Seeking Ball, your rapid punching technique, the Ten-Tails, anything," Naruto whined in desperation.

"Kekkei Mora, Kekkei Mora, Kekkei Mora, Kekkei Mora… fused to my soul? I'm sorry Naruto but nothing."

Naruto sighed, running his hands through his hair, "What are the odds of you popping out a Naruto-like direct bloodline in the near future?"

Kaguya glared at the Uzumaki with a faint hue of pink forming over her nose, "I'm basically your mother."

Naruto shook his head, "That's not what I meant… I need something that's so strong that even when I'm weakened, it can destroy Darkseid… something that under normal conditions would shred the universe to its last… atom," Naruto turned to his 'mother', "I need you."

Kaguya's pink hue had evolved into a red-hot flash, "What are you talking about?" she asked whilst fanning her face with her hands.

"You have to fight Darkseid for us."

Kaguya gave him a warm smile, "Naruto, the woman standing before you isn't Princess Kaguya Otsutsuki anymore, you're talking to Kaguya, I'm a mother now, a mother to the people who need me."

"I need you, dattebayo!"

"No, Uzushio needs me."

"Come on!" Naruto moaned, "I'm sorry Kaguya, but if there's nothing that benefits me in this situation, then I should be heading back to Konoha."

"The ruins!" Karin yelled.

Kaguya turned to stare at the dilapidated remains of an ancient structure strangled by vines and torn to shreds by the passing of time, "What about them?" she asked as Naruto looked up at the spiralling symbol above its massive door.

"The lowest level is supposed to house some of the Uzumaki Clan's greatest secrets. Long-lost sealing jutsu, ancient Uzumaki fighting tactics, chakra distribution, manipulation and multiplication practices and even a technique that can virtually bring you back to life or at least give you full strength after being on the verge of death," she explained, "If you can help us rebuild Uzushio, then I'll give you full access to the ruins… and that purple head you brought back."

"Thanos' head… where is it?"

"You'll find out when you help us rebuild," Karin stated.

"Help you rebuild? How on earth would I go about doing that, dattebayo?"

"Maybe if you could bring Sasuke here, I'm sure he has the strength and stamina to single-handedly rebuild an entire clan," Karin screamed licking her lips.

"Really?" Naruto facepalmed, "You know he's married now, right?"

"Married? Sasuke-kun is married? He can't be! Too who?!"

"There are entire universes collapsing as we speak and I'm stuck with you, worrying about Sasuke?"

"No! No! I'm just joking, Naruto… when did you becomes such a hard ass?" Karin grabbed his shoulder, she adjusted her glasses quickly before stuttering, "All we need you to do is make an impact. Do something that screams, 'Uzushiogakure is back'."

"Something like what?" Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"You can decide. When the ninja world is aware of our return, then you'll have your head back and the secrets of the Hidden Eddies Village," Karin smirked.

"… Wait a minute. How do I know you're not just making all this 'ancient ruins' nonsense up? I've been fooled one too many times since the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, so I need something I can hold you to," Naruto said.

"You have my word," Kaguya spoke.

"As much I respect your word, Kaguya, you tried to kill me three years ago so please understand where I'm coming from when I say your word doesn't quite cut it."

"Then if not my word, you have my chakra… if there's nothing of use in the underground ruins then I'll lace up my white gown, reactivate my Rinne-Sharingan and fight alongside you. Hopefully, I'll be enough firepower to replace any secret you could have learned."

Naruto flashed a foxy grin at the former princess of the moon. He threw both arms behind his head before parting his lips to let out a bloodcurdling scream. The Jinchuuriki fell to his knees in utter pain and agony.

"What's wrong?" Karin cried.

"The morphine wore off," Kaguya picked the blonde up, "Come, put some clothes on and we'll buy some from a nearby village."

**.**

"So tell me, in your opinion, what's the difference between being under siege and fighting a full-on war?" Sasuke enquired standing atop the Sand Village's towering cliff walls. He looked on at the rows and rows of infantries, cavalries and tents set up in the thousands. The Uchiha marched along the walls with his redheaded friend to get a good look at the armies surrounding the entire village.

"In a war, we'd be fighting back," Gaara explained, "Which is why I don't want you to do anything stupid."

"And you don't call holding one of the five major ninja villages under siege 'stupid'?"

"You wouldn't understand what's been going on for the past three months… with you and Naruto off fighting your space beings, terrorist organisations that we thought had died out after the war started coming back."

"So, they're terrorists… another reason to just cut them down where they stand," Sasuke snarled.

"For once Sasuke, I need you to think like a Kage," Gaara stopped, "Some of these people aren't killers, they're family men and women whose villages were attacked and they're doing anything to protect or feed their families. They're scared. The ninja system has failed them and they're fighting back the only way they know how."

"I'm not a Kage," Sasuke paused. He looked out at the arid wasteland for a while before returning his focus to the horde of humanity camped outside the village walls, "I have a daughter who probably doesn't know I exist… I have to see her."

"And you will, she's waited a whole month to see you, what's a few more days?"

Sasuke began walking again, Gaara followed behind him, "Okay then, what's your idea, Kage-Sama?" he asked in a voice laced with sarcasm.

"We're going to tire them out."

"How so?"

"We have reinforcements…"

Sasuke turned, he looked around at the barren landscape around him, not a single soul in sight aside from the Hidden Sand's citizens and its enemies in black, "Where?"

Gaara pointed to the north, "That way, we have Rock Village shinobi waiting for any stray terrorists," he pointed to the east, "In that direction, we have Leaf shinobi, who have orders to arrest and detain any suspicious people," finally, he pointed to the north-east, "and last but not least, we have the Hidden Rain Village, which applied for and were granted permissions to kill any terrorists who were found on their land. These people have no choice but to give up when they start running out of food and water."

"The human body can go for three weeks without food."

"But only three days without water," Gaara added.

"And how long have they been without water?" Sasuke asked.

"Fourteen hours," a woman stated. Sasuke turned to look down at a brown-haired young woman. The Sand kunoichi erupting in a blushing fit before bowing to the heavily bandaged Uchiha, "Sasuke Uchiha, I was told of your presence, but I didn't believe it until… until…" she panicked.

"Who is she?" the nonchalant hobo asked.

"That's Matsuri, my first and only student, as well my secretary," he gave her a little nod and started walking again until the three of them reached the large opening in the cliff wall. There was only one way to enter the Sand Village and that was it. A five-metre-wide opening surrounded by sixty-metre-high cliffs, those two elements combined made the Sand Village an impenetrable fortress. So, why did these few thousand shinobi think they could penetrate it of all villages?

Sasuke wandered closer to the edge to think a bit. As a matter of fact, all five ninja villages were created to be as secure as possible, the Sand had its steep cliff walls, the Rock was surrounded by a jagged mountain range, the Cloud was nearly thousands of metres above sea level, the Mist was shrouded in a mist that sent a signal when a new shinobi entered it, and the Leaf had a thick forest as well as an infamous barrier jutsu that only Leaf-born citizens and shinobi knew the code to. So, why didn't they just target a much smaller village?

Matsuri cleared her throat, "But Gaara-Sensei, I was speaking to Hiro on my way here and he raised a very valid question. What if when they run out of supplies, instead of surrendering, they just attack our village?"

"There are more than 8,000 shinobi behind these walls, we outnumber them four to one, have better weaponry and the higher ground. No one could possibly be that stupid," he replied, "but if it does come down to bloodshed then the countries these people come from will have to forgive us."

Sasuke's chakra flared, "We don't happen to have any of their men captured or anything do we?"

"We might have one or two. Why?"

"I'm genuinely curious as to why they'd attack a major village like Sunagakure, as you mentioned there's over 8,000 shinobi here, they know they're outnumbered and outmatched, so why…"

"We've tried our best to interrogate them to no avail," Gaara sighed.

"Then let me try my best," Sasuke spoke with scarlet irises staring off into the desert wasteland, "You'll find that I have better persuasions skills than some of your best interrogators."

**.**

"Naruto?"

"Huh?"

"Why are you so tense?" Kaguya enquired as she sauntered through the forest with the young Jinchuuriki and her redheaded partner, "Have you ever heard of the expression: stop and smell the roses?"

The Uzumaki, still mummified, but at least clad in navy pants and a black shirt with a big red swirl on its back, replied, "Well, pick a reason. One, I spent seven months getting over the death of my comrades, only to find out that the monster that killed my friends got killed by an even bigger and even badder monster that plans to destroy the entire multiverse. Two, every fibre of my being is in searing pain and the more we walk, the more my body gives up on me. Three, Darkseid could attack at any moment and without any major training session there's nothing anyone can do to stop him… and four, I missed seeing Hinata give birth, I spent months making sure she was…" the loudmouthed Uzumaki stopped to put his hands on his hips, "I wonder how many people think I'm dead right now?"

"How many of those things are in your hands at the moment?" Kaguya asked.

"What do you mean?"

"How many of the four things you listed do you have control over?"

"All of them, dattebayo! If I fought with no distractions a year ago, we wouldn't be in the situation we're in right now. If I kept training for a battle against Thanos when the odds were against him ever coming back, I could've been strong enough to endure a fight against Darkseid. If I was…"

"I ask you what you have control over and you give me a load of ifs and buts," Kaguya chuckled, "I could have spent ten months thinking about… what if I had access to the arsenal of techniques you and Sasuke had all those years ago, but then where would I be now? I'm a mother, I don't have time to be throwing Rasengan Barrages and summoning twenty-foot-tall flaming samurai warriors."

"You can do that?" Naruto drooled a little at the thought of such an unstoppable combination.

"Of course, every Kekkei Genkai and Kekkei Tota runs through my veins, I can do whatever I like."

"Then why don't you? You said you're afraid of an impending war, instead of bringing every Uzumaki back to Uzushiogakure, why don't you just use your powers to stop the war from even happening?"

"And how would my powers stop a war?"

"I don't know, you're powerful and everyone knows who you are. No one would dare fight against you."

"So, you want me to be a dictator?"

Naruto thought about it, "I don't know what that is," he turned to Karin.

She sighed, "It's a bad and selfish leader," Karin summed it up

Naruto shook his head, "No, no, I was thinking you just convince the people not to fight."

"And what do I do if they fight anyway?" Kaguya stopped, "Do I kill them? What if there's a thousand people that want to fight? Do I kill them all too, or do I let them be because they're now the majority? Even so, I've successfully stopped them from fighting for their lands or their rights, now they're fighting because someone told them not to… sometimes even if you can do something, it doesn't mean you should… war and hatred are hardwired into nature, as it breathes life, it continues to take it away… Sometimes the best way to protect something from war and hatred is to overpower it with love and hope." The former Rabbit Princess, Goddess of the shinobi world and mother of all who have chakra flowing through their bodies, gave the blonde Jinchuuriki a war smile, "Does that answer your question, Naru-chan?"

A spotlight of sunshine crept through the thick forest canopy to bathe the trio in warmth. Karin paused to stare at the greenery overhead. Naruto's face lit up as a foxy grin formed, "It answers a lot more than just my question, Kaa-san."

Karin glared at the blonde, "Kaa-san?"

Kaguya stopped her, "It's okay, I don't mind it."

**.**

Darkseid picked up Sasuke's robe as Desaad crawled out of whatever hole he'd hidden in to save himself. Sasuke's robe, Superman's cape, Captain America's shields and remnants of Naruto's, Goku's and Vegeta's tattered clothes. The hideous henchman scanned the area, observing each and every notch in the ship's nigh-indestructible metallic frame before settling on the hulking behemoth of a God.

"They survived?" Desaad enquired.

"I let them live."

"But… but… you told me killing them would destroy hope completely."

Darkseid used his Omega Beams to turn their clothes to dust before letting the ashes fall through his fingers, "They were much weaker in the neutral zone, yet they fought hard enough to damage my armour. I want a rematch, outside the neutral zone."

"You've had this plan ready for years, Master Darkseid. The multiverse is here for your destruction," Desaad yelled as a fifth universe tore open the veil to enter the neutral zone. "You'd risk losing it all over… over what exactly?"

"Desaad, if I just wanted to destroy the multiverse, I would have done it already. There are two ways this situation could play out from here. Either the heroes believe they cannot defeat me, they lose hope and they become victims of Anti-Life; I get a good fight and I kill the heroes in front of all the universes, destroying hope entirely. There is no situation where I lose, now if you doubt my plans one more time, I will have you disposed of, do you hear me?"

Desaad fell to grovel at the New God's feet, "I apologise wholly Master Darkseid, I have no idea what came over me."

The ashes of time ticked on.


	6. For Peace

**Darkseid of the Moon**

**CHAPTER 6**

**For Peace**

**.**

"Is that it? Finished, and without a challenge?" Darkseid wondered as he slowly placed his arms behind his back and stared down at the latest batch of challengers from the lost universes. An Asian young man with a light blue arrow running down his bald head tried to push himself up as the New God approached. He stepped over a slightly older teen in tattered green attire before grabbing the youthful monk and slamming him against the hardened glass, "At least the other universes put up more of a fight than…"

His speech was impeded by the monk pushing him away with a nigh-invisible ball of air, Darkseid just stood upright and watched him collapse, "All I wanted was a challenge of the ages, something to make me reconsider my conquest of the multiverse… instead, I get a kid with a stick," he gradually turned to snarl at all his challengers, "a boy with a fancy watch, some edgy teen with white hair and guns, a blue raccoon that runs on two legs and a grown man who shouts profanities in a language I know little of."

Hellfire echoed as Darkseid caught an axe, aimed directly at his head. Eyes burning with the intensity of a smouldering sun, he shifted to face the fool who could've easily walked away from the situation. A very muscular man with a beard, golden eyes and a pair of blades strapped to his back, stood there alongside what had to be his son. "What was your plan here, watch your friends die and jump in to save them like a hero?" Darkseid wondered.

"No, I just didn't want them to be in the way," he reached out. The axe flew back into his open hand.

"The confidence… perhaps you haven't noticed, but I am a New God."

"Greek, Norse… I've killed Gods before."

**.**

Two Suna guards flung a young man into a pitch-black room. The shinobi, with skin-crawling grins across their faces, slowly pulled the door close, destroying what little light was left. Nothing but the man's heavy breaths could be heard echoing through the thick steel door. He leapt to his feet to bang on it repeatedly, "Hey, let me out! I'm not a criminal, you can't prove I did anything!"

A raspy Kazekage's voice bellowed from one of the room's corners, "Your name is Mizuki, correct?"

"Lord Kazekage?" the brown-haired man spun in the darkness to face the speaker's general direction, "Are you in here too?"

"No, now answer my questions and this will all be over soon."

"I've already told you I don't want to answer your questions! I don't know what more you want from me."

"I want the truth… now tell me why, of all five Hidden Villages, have you attacked the Sand Village specifically? What does your terrorist organisation want?"

"Terrorists? You've got to be kidding me…"

"I'm actually really, really trying to help you here, Mizuki," Gaara's pace started to quicken, "I'll ask you one last time, please, tell me what you want."

Mizuki started walking over to the speaker in the corner, "What I want is to see the Hidden Villages collapse from the inside-out using the same systems they've used to build themselves up…"

The lights came on.

"Wrong answer."

"Sasuke Uchiha?" the taller man in Suna attire grabbed a handful of Mizuki's collar, "I'm sorry," he got thrown into a wall.

"Pick an eye," Sasuke approached the downed man.

"I didn't know you were alive."

"I said pick an eye!"

"They told me you and Naruto were dead," his eyes widened.

"I'm not asking you again, left or right?" Sasuke picked the man up by his collar.

"Right," he screamed.

Sasuke paused for a bit before looking at the mirror to his left, "Your right or mine?"

"Mine?"

Sasuke activated his dojutsu. His onyx left eye rippled outwards until the ripples filled his eyeball, one-by-one, six tomoe formed on the innermost circles, "Rinnegan, huh?" he dropped the slightly shorter man before backing up, "Then it's your lucky day, I can't perform genjutsu on my Rinnegan."

Mizuki's eyes lit up, "Really?"

"Of course not, I just let you go because you're already under the Genjutsu: Sharingan!"

Bullets of sweat formed on Mizuki's tanned figure. He stared over the Uchiha as a massive bird, twice their height looked down on him. The walls collapsed, leaving them in an unknown dimension illuminated by a red crescent moon. Sasuke slammed the man against a cross. Mizuki gripped Sasuke's wrist firmly, "This isn't real, your genjutsu can't hurt me."

"You do not understand how the Genjutsu: Sharingan works, do you?" a Susanoo arm cracked into existence from Sasuke's spine. The arm plucked a feather from the giant bird and penetrated Mizuki's stomach with the searing heat and intensity of a hot knife, "What the fuck! Why does that hurt?!" Mizuki clutched his stomach.

"Give me the answers I want, Mizuki, the only reason I'm doing this is because your army is standing between me and my daughter," Sasuke lifted Mizuki's chin, "My entire family was massacred when I was only seven, I spent thirteen years without a family or friends, now I have exactly that and you're standing in the way of it…"

"I have a mission too, I have a family, I have kids I need to feed, friends to get back to," Mizuki groaned.

"I don't give a shit about your family," another feather pierced through his shoulder and jutted out his knee, damaging every organ on the way through.

"Kami, they told me you were dead."

"Who's they?" Mizuki chose to remain silent, "Well, whoever they are, they've just gotten you killed. I hope you told your family you loved them before you left."

"You'd never kill me." Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "Would you?" a demonically humanoid Susanoo wrapped his cold fingers around Mizuki's body. It bellowed an evil laugh that allowed noxious fumes to escape its mouth.

"What is that thing?" It lifted him up to its face. The red crescent moon morphed into a Rinne-Sharingan. Tears trickled down Mizuki's cheeks, "I said what is that thing?"

Mizuki's body fell limp, he collapsed. Sasuke closed his eyes and turned to the mirror, "They're planning to assassinate the Daimyo. This attack was just a distraction to get all eyes on Suna and away from the country leaders. Your waiting game played right into their hands," Sasuke exited the room. Gaara chased him into the hallways.

"And where on earth are you going?"

"I'm going to see my daughter and warn the Fire Daimyo that he's in trouble. I'd advise you to do the same with the Wind…" Sasuke saw something in the corner of his eye.

"Kazekage-Sama!" three guards charge down the hallway. The world was dyed in amber. There was nowhere to go. A massive flaming boulder clattered into the interrogation room, aimed directly at the Uchiha and his new Hidden Sand friend. All three guards were sent flying as glass and hardened shattered alike.

**.**

Naruto picked a juicy red apple from a batch of forty, maybe fifty. He raised the plump fruit to his face before staring past it and the smiling old lady behind the counter, "How much is it?"

"Three Ryo," she replied holding up three frail fingers.

"Three Ryo?!"

"Is that too much sweetie?" she wondered.

Naruto chuckled, "No, no, it's just that back in Konoha, it'd be like five or ten Ryo."

"Oh I'm sorry, would you like me to charge you five Ryo then?"

"No, I was just…"

"Ten? So you can feel at home?"

"Ma'am, just take my money," Naruto felt his back pocket, void of his favourite green Gama-chan. He didn't think he'd need the fat frog whilst fighting Thanos, even if he had taken it, it would have been destroyed in the fight against Darkseid, "Sorry, ma'am… Kaguya-chan, I'm a little broke, do you have three Ryo I could borrow?"

The slightly shorter woman strolled up to the booth before digging through her pocket for some money, "One for me too, please." Karin punched Naruto's side, sending a wave of pain running up and down his bandaged body. Kaguya slowly turned to face the redheaded woman, "Karin!"

"I just wanted to check how his wounds were healing."

"By punching them?" Naruto whined.

"If anything that should be incentive for you to stop apple hunting and start searching for some morphine," Karin yelled. Kaguya just giggled at their bickering, "Weren't you rolling around in pain an hour ago?"

"I have a high pain tolerance, okay… what I don't have is a high hunger tolerance, dattebayo!"

"You can eat when we get back home."

"Your home is like an hour away. I'm sure the morphine can wait…"

"Come along, kids," Kaguya called out.

The Uzumaki duo finally caught up to the former Rabbit Goddess as she wandered through empty streets. Naruto couldn't fathom the idea of not bumping into people left and right whilst walking down a city's main street. Even after the culling, Konoha's roads and paths were more half-full than half-empty.

"This place is more a ghost town than a little village. Where is everyone?"

"Some people are probably gone, some are hiding," Kaguya explained.

"Hiding? From what?"

Karin took over, "With the five major villages basically on the brink of war, small factions of bandits and missingin have taken it upon themselves to bully smaller villagers."

Naruto paused, "The five major villages are at war? Again?"

"On the brink of it, yeah. With you and Sasuke-kun gone for so long, the world kind of folded in on itself."

"No, no, we don't have time to fight amongst ourselves, Darkseid is coming. He'll wipe out every living thing. Everything that breathes will be extinguished, he said it himself, these streets will be bathed in the blood of trillions," his heart rate picked up, "Kaguya, you have to stop them."

"Naruto, we just had a chat about this."

"I thought you were talking about Darkseid too, we can't make his job easier," Naruto yelled as villagers sprinted past the trio to retreat into their homes, "There can't be another war, especially not now… I need to return to the Hidden Leaf," he decided.

"A Hidden Leaf boy, huh?" someone asked from behind the blonde, "How much do you think your clan will be willing to pay for you?"

The Jinchuuriki's face twisted, wondering who on earth would have the guts to talk to him like that. He was about to turn around, and if that man didn't have a Rinnegan, or an Uchiha/Otsutsuki clan symbol on his back, he was about to get his ass kicked, "That depends, Karin, how much would you pay for me if I got kidnapped?"

Karin rolled her eyes, "I'd have them pay me a million Ryo to not have you kill them all."

Surprise, no Rinnegan, no clan symbols, just a group of five or six men in full black clothing, holding nothing but a few weapons that'd do nothing but slow the Uzumaki down. He almost pitied them, "This is really not the time, run along, please."

"Not the time? Unless you haven't noticed, we run this place, and you need to pay a certain fee to be standing on such sacred ground."

"They don't know who I am? You don't know who I am, dattebayo! Who are you guys?"

They looked at each other before chuckling in unison, "Where have you been for the last two months? We're members of the Land of Fire's Heiwa Regime, here to take the five major lands down using their own systems of oppression."

"You're from the Land of Fire, and you don't know who I am?"

Karin rolled her eyes, "You're covered in bandages, remember?"

Kaguya grabbed both their shoulders, "I don't think we should be starting any drama right now, especially in this village, so I think we should leave and come back later."

"No, wait, you said that if I do something big to show that the Uzumaki Clan is back, I can get my head back and leave right?" Naruto wondered. Karin shrugged before nodding, "Hey, uh, Heiwa dudes, if I let you capture me, you'll take me back to your main base, right?"

Naruto's enquiry was greeted by utter confusion, "Uh… no, wait, it depends why!"

"It's not to kill you all if that's what you're thinking," Karin slapped her forehead at the thought of being related to this knucklehead.

"… No, we don't want to, we'll just kill you here," the confused men gave each other nods of agreement before slowly charging the blonde.

"C'mon, make me job easy, dattebayo," he closed the distance, knocking the first guy out before screaming in pain. Every time he punched or kicked one of them, that body part would be riddled by pain, but every time he took a hit, the area of effect would swell up and go numb.

He hopped back to get out of their range. _"Kurama… wake up, you big furball!"_

"_**Huh? What the fuck's going on? Have you killed that Darkseid guy yet?"**_

"_No, we're back on earth."_

"_**Then what do you need me for?"**_

"_I need you to help me get rid of these guys."_

"_**Should we kill them?"**_

"_Of course not, I tried to threaten them but they didn't back off. We should put them down as quickly as possible though,"_ he had a mental conversation with the Nine-Tailed Beast whilst dodging five bladed weapons. _"Maybe some shadow clones will help…"_

"_**Just go for a Rasenshuriken!"**_

"_You realise that destroys them on a cellular level, right?"_

"_**Honestly, you're not giving me any good reasons to not do it."**_

"_Don't kill them! They look harmless."_

"_**What do you want from me? I'm the strongest being on this planet, anything I do would kill them in a… is that Princess Kaguya?"**_

"_Oh yeah, you missed the part where…"_ Naruto took a kick to the gut. Another man in black grabbed him by the hair to toss him against a wooden wall, cracking it. "Let's focus on the battle at hand, shall we?" he burst into Kyuubi Chakra Mode. Four large yellow arms extending from his back to lift four of the five oncoming assailants.

Naruto punched the last guy, knocking him out. One of the bandits laced his katana with chakra to slice through the chakra arm. The man tackled Naruto, slamming him against the wall with his sword. The Jinchuuriki stared at the blade running through his stomach, "Oi… that's gonna hurt when I get the feeling back in my body," he slapped the bandit unconscious.

"Who's next?" he wondered, looking up at the remaining three. One of them exploded in a bloody mess, "Kurama!"

"_**Sorry kit, instincts!"**_

"Please drop your weapons before he does it again," Naruto begged. The remaining two happily obliged. Dropping their swords and raising their hands to surrender, "Good, now all I need from you is the location of your main base of operations."

"What's your plan?" Karin wondered, stepping over the multiple unconscious bodies.

"I'll defeat their leader in hand-to-hand combat before doing something that screams 'the Uzumaki Clan are back', so that when the villages come to investigate, they'll tell everyone that it was the Uzumaki Clan that did this."

"That's perfect, I'm surprised someone with nothing going on up there came up with that," Karin chuckled.

"I don't think that's such a good idea. It's big, a little too big," Kaguya joined the conversation.

Naruto scratched his head, "I'm getting some mixed signals here, do I make an impact, do I not?"

One man yelled, "What makes you think we'll allow you to just walk in to our base and kill our leader like that?"

The Uzumaki shrugged, "How would you stop me?"

"We could just not tell you where they're located."

Karin answered this one, "Then Naruto would just kill you all and wait for the next platoon to come through."

"All the men and women of Heiwa signed up knowing what they were getting themselves into. We are not random groups of people anymore, we are one. We fight for the oppressed, we are the voice of the voiceless and we will continue to systematically force the five major lands to collapse in on themselves, no matter what. I'll see you in death, brother," the man pulled out a bomb tag. Karin rushed to protect Kaguya. Naruto's eyes widened. Kurama.

The massive orange-red canine chomped down on the man. Nothing but smoke escaped his nostrils as the Fox of Nine Tails lifted its head to show that the suicide bomber was no more. The last man standing was obviously not feeling the whole going out in a bang idea, especially after seeing how quickly Kurama had shut that shit down, so he agreed to cooperate.

"We're just lowly grunts and bandits, we're not trusted with such sacred co-ordinates, but I can tell you where to find someone who knows," Naruto listened closely as Kurama folded his arms and lowered himself to rest alongside his jailor. "The woman you're looking for goes by the name Izumi, she lives in a medium-sized seaside village three hours north of here. She has black hair, black eyes and always wears black robes, we report to her if anything goes wrong, so she must be a higher-up."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Black hair, black eyes and black robes. Thanks, you've successfully described half the woman in the Land of Fire… as well as half the men in the Land of Fire."

"She always walks around surrounded by big armed guards, you won't miss her, I swear on my life."

"Speaking of…" the Heiwa man turned around to get a spear through the mouth.

"Holy shit," Karin's face contorted in disgust. An elderly man with light grey hair wiped the blood off his hands before slowly pulling the spear out to allow the man to scream one last time before he rammed it through his chest, killing him, "What the fuck was that for?"

"These men had been terrorising our village for weeks. I overheard your mom here talking about people moving out or hiding. We didn't leave, these people have just been raping and killing our people for the last ten days. We exist as a shadow of our former selves, so I want them all to wake up so we can torture and kill them one-by-one."

"Torture and kill, that's brutal," Karin said. Naruto just shrugged, "I thought you'd be all against this too."

"I've got Darkseid, and now Izumi, to worry about. The last thing on my mind is the death of proven criminals."

"What about you, Kaguya… Kaguya-Sama?" Karin spun on her heels to see the former Rabbit Goddess running her tiny hands along Kurama's orange-red pelt. The giant fox closed his eyes to let her stroke him like a big softie. The mountain-busting Demon Fox of Nine Tails and the all-killing Rabbit Goddess of the Moon were now just a mom and her really big dog. Naruto laughed at the sight.

**.**

In the Hidden Sand Village, the embers of war died away as the Kazekage and the Uchiha emerged from the ashes of a burning building. Gaara protected by a sandy figure of his mother, and Sasuke by his chakra-born protector's ribs.

It was raining fire. Huge boulders, the size of horses, were coming down from beyond the walls. It made them wonder, where had they even gotten cannons from? Gaara formed a sand cloud. He stepped onto it, "Are you coming?"

"And where are you going?"

"To hopefully change their minds before they kill any one of my citizens."

"And if they do?"

"I'll see what happens when it comes to that."

"Weren't you the same guy who almost destroyed an entire village because I made you bleed?" Sasuke wondered.

"That was a long time ago, I have since learned that sometimes the need to protect precious outweighs the need to fight for yourself. If we can convince some of these people to leave now, maybe we can avoid bloodshed," Gaara explained, "Now then, hop on."

Sasuke reluctantly stepped onto the flying cloud as hellfire descended. The cliff walls rose as a sand dome came up to protect the villagers from incoming aerial threats. The boulders smashed into the hardened sand before breaking up and raining on the citizens as super-hot pebbles.

As the duo floated over the walls, they came face-to-face with fifteen large cannons lined up along the eastern side of the village. Gaara gradually lowered them to hover over the fully armoured group of over four thousand.

"I see, you seemed to have doubled overnight," Gaara noted.

The most muscular man, dressed head-to-toe in silken black cloth and covered in light metallic armour, stepped forward to acknowledge the Kazekage's presence, "It shows that our fight continues to attract more and more people each and every day… Sasuke Uchiha?" the man stopped, "We… we… thought you were dead."

"So I've been told," Sasuke hopped off the cloud and landed near the burly man, "But as you can see for yourself, I'm not… now call off the attack on the Daimyo, and I won't break every bone in your body. In fact, since you're standing in the way of me seeing my daughter, I'll break every bone in all of your bodies… doesn't that sound fun?"

"How do you know?"

"I don't see any movement," he tried to stare past the large man.

"The attack has already begun, as we speak the assassinations are being conducted, there's nothing either of us could do to stop…"

"Look… I honestly don't even care, I don't even know who the Daimyo are. I'll just do this because of the whole situation with my family," Sasuke shrugged.

"Do what?"

Sasuke clutched the man's throat before ripping out his windpipe. Air escaped his body through the openings as his body fell limp. Gaara dropped to the sand next to him to yank Sasuke back.

"What are you doing?"

"You heard him. The Daimyo are probably already dead, nothing either him or I could do about it, so there was nothing stopping me killing him for bombing the Sand Village. Plus, you said it yourself, if they decide to attack the village then you'll have no choice but to fight back. This is me fighting back," every time Sasuke would move or take a step in any direction, the masses of people in front of him would flinch and retreat, so he stopped and stared at them, "You're all still here? Why? Go home! The big guy is dead and you will follow!"

They stared back at him in stunned silence. The Uchiha shrugged. The men and women in black and silver exchanged nods of confirmation before returning to Sasuke. He warned them not to do it. They picked up their weapons, kunai knives, shuriken and swords at the ready. They were gonna do it.

"If we go down, the village system goes down with us!" one man roared. The army approached.

Sasuke pushed Gaara back, "Get in the village and lock the doors," was the last thing he said as he jogged towards the army that was running towards him. After his defeat at the hands of Darkseid, he needed this more than anyone could understand. Honestly, as he paced towards them and they ran towards him, all he could see were punching bags. Disposable punching bags. Sasuke threw his arms back and sprinted. Straight through the entire force a couple thousand strong. He unsheathed his sword and diagonally dissected a man before climbing on a poor woman's face and drilling her into the earth.

The armed forces surrounded him. His Sharingan burst to life, allowing him to flawlessly dodge attacks whilst also dealing an astonishing amount of damage. Sasuke cleaned someone's clock before turning around to Spartan kick a woman into next week. Someone nailed him in the back with a kunai knife.

His fault for taking it easy on them. He grabbed that same kunai and threw it back, killing him.

"Inferno Style: Flame Control!" the everlasting black flames of death encircled the Uchiha in tornado form, incinerating everyone in a five-metre radius. When the black wall came down, the army was still there. Stupid fools. They advanced, "There's just no end," he got smacked in the back of the knees by a staff, levelling him. He kicked the man behind him in the face before leaping into the air.

He ran through the appropriate hand signs, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" charred bodies dropped.

"Water Style: Water Wall!" Sasuke rose higher by generating Susanoo wings.

"Fire Style: Fierce Dragon Flame Jutsu," the dragon-shaped embers descended on the army, taking out dozens of men and women in black. Sasuke dropped onto the battlefield riddled with cracks, spewing molten rock.

With a little more reluctance this time, another wave of soldiers attacked. As the Uchiha fought on, the herd began to thin. A brave few chose to run in the direction of the Sand Village to give themselves up, whilst some rather retreated to the west or to the east of the Land of Wind. Overall, nearly three thousand members of the Heiwa Regime chose rather to escape the battle with their lives than to be slain at the hands of Indra's reincarnation.

"Inferno Style: Susanoo Flame Sword," one last slice of the blackened blade and the final remnants of Heiwa's army were finished. None stood taller than the Uchiha, he had won, but at the cost of over five hundred lives.

There was no time to grieve or mourn, at least they had died in combat, fighting on behalf of what they believed in. As for Sasuke, he still had to chase down what he believed in. And what he believed in, was three days eastwards. He picked up one of the black robes and clipped it around his neck before topping his look off with a samurai hat lined with black tassels.

**.**

Darkseid let his victims return to their homes of origin before sitting back down on his throne to observe his wounds and battle scars. Nine tenths of the damage were solely to his armour and the remaining one tenth were wounds he could easily heal from, but at least he'd experienced the taste of battle again.

Again, Desaad crawled out of his hiding place to scan the area for any damage, "Did you enjoy yourself, Master Darkseid?"

"Do not talk to me like I am a child or I will turn you to dust where you stand, Desaad."

The scarred henchman apologised profusely before standing upright and telling his overlord a very important piece of news, "Master Darkseid, I was observing the symbols of hope like you told me to, you know, Superman, Iron Man, and all of them, and I'm afraid I've got some bad news to report."

"Bad news?" Desaad had never uttered those words in Darkseid's presence, "Speak, and if I don't consider your findings 'bad news' then I will have to find myself another henchman. One who understands the meaning of such vile words."

"Superman has disappeared. It is believed he's gone to search for the Thought Robot, used to defeat Mandrakk in a distant past."

Those words hit Darkseid like a freight train. The distraught God sat still for a brief moment before lifting himself off his seat and sauntering to the very edge of the hardened glass. His shocked face relaxed, returning to its natural scowl. He let out a soft sigh before proclaiming, "Is that it? The Thought Robot is nothing to fear, Desaad. It was destroyed long ago, and even if it could be revived, it requires dualities. I understand your stress but there is no need to fret."

"Dualities?"

"Constrasts, oppositions. For Superman to control the Thought Robot, he'd need an evil version of himself or, in a way, the opposite of himself. Even then, it'd be limited by the neutral zone," Darkseid walked past Desaad, disappearing behind a metallic wall as he finished.

"Interesting… but where are you going, Master Darkseid?"

"I am going to soak in the Omega Effect… for a week. By then most, if not all, of the universes should be in the neutral zone and I want to be fresh and fully loaded when that happens."

"For a week? I understand your confidence but that's a long time… don't you think you're underestimating the heroes. What if they come up with a plan to defeat you?"

"Then they will execute that plan in a week and I will shut it down, like I have shut down all their other attempts…"

**.**


End file.
